With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:56 GMT

"But why did he leave?" **Come Over to the Winning Team.**

The nearby gordanians of what turns out to be called the Endless Conquest clan switch from 'caution-intruder' to 'caution-boss' mode, making gestures of respect and deference to me before returning to carting materials to repair the smashed up transport bay down the corridor.

"He believes that you are dead and that I am therefore weakened. But I got a solid hit on him before he left and our god powers mostly relate to strategic manipulation. Which means that even if my metaphysique was weakened due to losing you-"

I take a quick look around and confirm that no one is looking. Then I pick Lynne up and hug her to my chest.

"-I could still kill him by conventional means and then rest and recover. I love you."

"I love you too Daddy, but you should put me down."

"Bah, who's the god-king here?" I've got a rough idea of the ship's likely layout, but Grayven's lingering presence is preventing me from commanding it and I can hardly ask the crew.

"You're more like a god-president, like they have in Europe where the president is just supposed to make sure that no one's being too stupid while the prime minister runs the government."

"Apt." I put her down, smiling fondly. "Does this mean that you want to get involved in the family business when you graduate?"

"I don't think I could do anything else."

"Oh? Do I have to punch my father in the soul again?"

"My god powers let me make sense of groups of people without trying to read all their minds. What other jobs let me use that?"

"Anything in management. Retail. Local government. State government. Federal government."

"I thought American government was all about preventing anyone having too much power."

"Yes, but the US Constitution was written before telepathy and magic were well understood. I'm fairly sure that you could bypass checks and balances even without my help. Ah, or help them adapt to that oversight as an unelected advisor."

"Hm."

Ping.

Yes, but he'll almost certainly have remodelled a bit. Those ships were designed to be run by Lowlies and multiple New Gods, not one New God and a multitude of aliens. He would have had to make the design more rational.

Ping.

It's what I'd have done. Those old ships were a bit of a mess if you forgot that they were built on the assumption that the people on board were supernaturally good at certain things and so didn't need certain systems. I try reaching out-.
Not Authorised in My Domain.
"Shouldn't we have run into someone important by now?"

"Someone with decision making power will be on the bridge. But gordanian military leaders will be on other ships, and civilian leaders will be wherever he's keeping their civilian population. Probably habitation ships, mining vessels…"

"What about senior officers?"

"Who's the fourth highest ranking Orange Lantern?"

"Ah…"

"It goes me, Dox, Komand'r, and then..?"

"I don't think you told me about anyone else."

"Because the three of us are the only ones with command authority. Primitive militaries need complex hierarchies of authority to get anything done. I'm a New God and Dox is an organic computer. Grayven might have non-commissioned officers and clan officers and officials…"

"But they're not important to him, because he instinctively knows who the best person for the job is and so does everyone else because they're under his power. Which works fine until he dies and there's no one to take-." She frowns. "So he should have killed you and taken control of me, because then I'd be a loyal second in command who could carry on his work. Why didn't he?"

"He didn't know about you, you're a bit of a handful, and he doesn't really care about what he's building. It's part of him, not a thing in itself. If your head gets cut off, it doesn't really matter what shape your feet are in."

"But aren't both of you the same?"

"He didn't have my second life. He went straight from Apokolips to this, while I got the advantage of a normal life. For a few decades."

"What if you didn't?"

"I'd probably have ended up the same."

"No, I mean… What if you didn't escape? What if he did something and made you just appear on the other Earth?"

I carefully avoid thinking anything about that.

"Or maybe he's the pretender. Humans can't be the only species who can be Awakened. If he made himself look like you and then got Awakened, he could pretend he was you." She looks up at me. "Would that work?"

"It m-. Oh look, a door!" I take Mother Box off my harness and tap her against the control panel. "Let's see if we can find a map or something."

The door splits, sliding left and right into the walls. And it's another launch bay, because of course those would all be in the same part of the ship. Given that we're against the hull here I could blast my way out… Maybe. But I don't want to give Grayven a reason to prioritise me, or attract undue attention.

"Navigation computers." I send beams of orange light into the waiting craft, ignoring the confusion of the gordanians preparing the landing craft. "They'll have to have our location loaded on them. I don't suppose that these fellows know where we are, do they?"

Lynne's eyes shimmer for a moment, and the gordanians go back to their work. **Above Your Concerns.**

"No. The other Grayven had good operational security."

Ah! Snagged one. And…

Ping.

An outside line! How nice. Call Duke Oswin and get me our current location.

Call in progress. Location not found. Local navigation data located. Extrapolating.

Oddly.. industrial. There isn't anywhere in Vega like-.

"Kranaltine. He's attacking Kranaltine. But without his direct aid we'll butcher his fleet, that doesn't make sense."

Someone on Oswin's end sends an acknowledgement.

"Grayven! Good to hear from you."

"Oswin! I'm chasing down Other Grayven. How are you managing?"

"Going well until a minute ago, when stars and planets started flying at each other. Any idea what's going on there?"

"Orrery. Oswin, is there anything on Kranaltine called 'The Orrery'?"

"Yes, there are display pieces in various museums. Is this really the time for sight-seeing?"

"Grayven's here with a dreadnought, and from the lack of shaking I don't think you have a home defence fleet any more. I'll get him, but he's here for something called 'The Orrery'. Where were your people's first settlements?"

"The-. The northern continent, around the coast."

"We'll try there. Grayven out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
16:00 GMT
Open, We Command You. / **Open, We Command You.**
This generation of Apokoliptian warship uses individual deployment chutes for its small craft, so making the thing go was just a matter of boarding and then forcing the ship's… Metaphysique, to think for a few moments that I'm actually Grayven.

And as the dropship we're in shoots out of the mothership I smile at our success, all the while waiting for the moment when we get far enough away that I can start using my own New God technology because I think I'm going to need it to get to wherever Grayven ended up in time to…

I get a good look at local space, and it doesn't look good.

Destroyers and cruisers are flying in Kranaltine's skies, and I mean its skies and not low orbit. There are occupation fleets drifting around each of the major settlements and a few more ready to act as reserves. A smaller number of large ships remain outside of the gravity well, and from the flashes of light I don't think that the engagement is going well for whatever ships the local defenders have left.

Flashes pass overhead as Grayven's flagship lends the attackers its aid. Blasters. With that number, it would be…

Oh. A fully reconditioned Apokoliptian dreadnaught. The hyper blaster on the front would destroy anything in the defensive fleet. This is…

I mean, on the plus side, the fleet engagement here is already lost, we're not getting hit because we're showing a friendly signal and profile and we're not wasting further resources against a ship that we couldn't beat. And since Grayven doesn't have any other New Gods with him, if I win this there's a good chance I'll be able to keep the ship. Which would be nice, but probably won't actually let me beat anyone I actually need to beat…
And then it's like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
"Grayven to Karras."

"Karras here, my lord. What news?"

"He's hit Kranaltine. Link up with the nearest Imperial fleet and prepare to jump in. Do not do so until I take possession of their dreadnaught or it will wipe you out."

"Understood. Karras out."

"Grayven to Artemis."

"Hey. I think Diana's on her third speech."

"You know where Kranaltine is?"

"Yea-? That's where he went? Why?"

"Ancient artefact called The Orrery. He's using it to control planetoids within the Vega Systems. Someone hid it here and Grayven already knows it's-."

"I'll come look." "On the hunt."

"Thanks, but don't fight Grayven. If I don't overcome him myself we might not be able to turn it off."

"Right."

Okay. Ring, access historical-.

My vision goes gold as a tremendous energy blast rips through-

Armour!

-the dropship, cutting through one side of the hull and out of the other! Who just-? Through the open hull of the dropship I see a figure; blue costume with a yellow star on the chest, carrying a wooden shepherd's crook. Prince Gavyn. Starman.

He briefly makes eye contact with me through his goggles-. Yes, of course. He's too small and agile for them to track accurately with anti-air fire, but at this point the rest of their military would be neutralised-.

"Starman! Hold-."

Another bolt of golden energy slams into my shield as Lynne grabs a space helmet. We're just about inside the atmosphere, but I wouldn't want to try breathing normally up here.

"You're shooting the wrong Grayven!"

"Am I?" He flies closer as the wreckage of our dropship hurtles towards the planet. "You said he was coming for you!"

"He's here for something called The Orrery, and a few minutes ago was the first time I heard of it. Vega's-"

I take an updated map from the Orange Lantern Corps' network, showing the changing position-. Shit. Four suns have already been slammed into one another, and Liot'r is moving towards a nearby blue giant. Orange Lanterns on-site appear to be dealing with the side effects, but it's going to take a lot of work to make Vega shipshape again.

I conjure a construct to demonstrate.

"-being torn apart. I've got a fleet coming in and I'm pretty sure that I can take Grayven myself, but if we don't find where he is now it's going to be a pretty quiet victory feast. Does Kranaltine have any ancient ruins or archaeological sites?" "Help me help you."

"It…" He's not happy, but he drifts closer with a thoughtful expression on his face. "There are a few such sites. Mine isn't the first species to settle this world. But… They've been gone over a thousand times by archaeologists. There's nothing else there now but rubble."

That fits the profile, but…

"No one location stands out?"

"I'm not an archaeologist."

Yeah, that's fair. The dropship starts burning around us, so Lynne triggers her aero-discs while I use my ring's flight function, letting it tumble towards the planet's surface without us.

Okay.

I narrow my eyes and try to feel where his influence is spreading. Ships, no… What is he claiming? Where are his weapons?

Agh, no good. He's claiming this entire world; a shallow but all-encompassing claim which makes it all a part of him-.

"Gavyn, where's the queen?"

He doesn't answer.

"Gavyn, he and I are gods of conquest. He's defeated your military. If the queen orders the world to cooperate until a relief force arrives, if he completes his conquest of this world, his powers get stronger."

"In a sealed bunker under the capital. Even Grayven's forces will take time to get through five different types of force fields and about two miles of granite."

"Can you talk to them and make sure she's still there?"

He nods and raises his staff. A moment later an illusory image of… A fortified room filled with corpses, appears.

"Not boom tube proof. Sorry. Does she have a tracking implant?"

Gavyn twitches as he dismisses the image. "No."

Okay, this is… I can use my powers to feel Lynne's location and Artemis's rough location, but that's because we're spiritually connected. Grayven and I aren't, we're just similar. Would that work?

One way to find out.

Feel The Flow Of Authority.

Come on you literal bastard.

Many Kings Spoil The Realm.

I know you're the sort who will want me to know that I've failed before you kill me, and if I can't find you then you'll never have that satisfaction.

Throw Down The Gauntlet.

BOOM!

Pick Up the Gauntlet.

Hu-?

"Daddy!"

The boom tube snaps shut behin-.

Duh!

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
16:04 GMT

I get a half-second look at a room filled with a glowing something before all I can see is Grayven's-

Bff! A Duty, Not a Joy.

-fist which sends me flying across the room and into a wall!

Lip damp, nose probably broken. Armour!

"No."

Eyes flash purple and the construct's gone and I try to raise my arms defensively and-

Grgh! Dah!

My vision swims as the Grayven-shaped blur lunges at me! I trigger my aero-discs and flail across the floor just ahead of his stamping boots! Armour!

"No."

AAGH!

I'm breathing unsteadily, staggering back as Grayven jabs-. And by pure chance I manage to block, his fist deflecting off my right bracer. I attempt a counter, but he easily evades and if my vision wasn't so blurry I think I'd see him smiling.

Alright, singularity-.

"No."

Purple beams lash out and my construct's gone and my armour's baked.

Sinest-?

"Learn." He grabs my left arm and tugs me towards him. "Self." Two punches.. to my face… "Reliance." The Strong are Strong Alone.

Snap.

YAAAAGH!

Left arm broken braced it.

"No."

Radion blaster.

The -graaagh- Omega Effect beam hits and the remains of the armour protecting my left arm vaporise, melting skin and muscle beneath, but I shoot with my right hand!

"AhH!"

Grayven swats, smashing the blaster to pieces even as he tries to shield his eyes. If… Ah… If I'm lucky I blinded him. I… Focus, focus. Draw Sword of the Fallen, move… Move towards him, stab-.

He catches my wrist with both hands, his eyes bleeding but still working.

"Weak." "Pathetic."

He twists my arm and then hits-. Shit! I lose my grip on the Sword and he -oof!- kicks me away before catching it.

I stagger back, trying to work out how he's going to come at me next. Restore My Majesty.

"This? What is this?" He turns the Sword from side to side as he look at it. "A hold-out weapon? I expected better." My Sole Dominion.

He tosses it aside before coming at me again. Not rushed-. Not rushing, so maybe his eyes are more hurt than it looks. Brace arm and armour.

The construct appears, but it's translucent. I don't know why, I'm genuinely fearful.

"N-."

Grayven's face glows purple, and he covers his eyes with both hands.

"Agh!"

"Nnnnuuurh!"

I charge and slam into him while he's distracted, his hands weakly striking at my head and shoulders as I keep my head tucked in, keeping going until he hits a wall. I form a fist with my right hand and punch him in the abdomen where his armour looks weakest before pulling back-

The skin is gone from around his eyes, the bones of his cheeks visible through the rents in his flesh. His eyes look deflated, but he can still glare at me.

-and punching him across the jaw.

His head turns with the blow, but I don't think he's taken any real damage. Okay, ah, x-ionised knife… Or… Where did the Sword end up..?

Focus, Lantern-

Grayven's head reorientates on me, hands reaching for my head! In The Land Of The Blind, I Will Be King!

-Grayven.

I stumble back… Aero-discs! I trigger my-.

Grayven jumps, hands clasped together to uhgh! To hit me back into the ground. I Will Break You!

Knife knife knife knife! I get it into my hand as he comes closer, trying to increase the power to my-.
Weight of Worlds.
A hit to my chest as he jerks his head back to avoid my stab. My construct sort of survived, but the fact that I actually felt it-. I slash at his hands but I only manage to nick him before he grabs my wrist, grinning as he pushes my knife towards my face in a test of strength. Knife in the other hand and stab.

"Ragh!"

It punched through his wrist armour, flesh and bone but now it's stuck-.

"Agh!"

I step back as he manages to slice my knife through the right side of my jaw.

Behind him I see Sinthia frantically blocking arrows that seem to come from nowhere while a great model of Vega's stars and worlds rotates between us.

Grayven pulls the knife out of his wrist and checks the motion-. He can still move it. I'm not-. I'm not going to beat him in a straight fight. Where did the Sword-?

Hrukk.

Knife… Punched through my neck.

I clamp my right hand around my throat as my reinforcements gutter once more.

I'm losing.

I could die.

I think if I'd taken less hits to the head I'd be more scared.

Need to change…

Can't think.

Grayven grins, his blinded eyes shining faintly-.

I don't have any better ideas. Hope this works.

I lunge forward, arms outstretched. He cuts my arms but I accept the wounds, grasping for his eye sockets!

The Power Is Mine! The Power Is Mine!

"No!" The Power Is Mine!

Purple light-.

1st September 2012
16:06 GMT

I stumble for a step, then hesitantly raise my right hand to my face. The pretender is.. gone, and my injuries are healed. I am not sure what happened to.. him, but that is an issue for later.

I turn back to the Orrery, where his huntress is standing in shock while Sinthia uses her ring to seal her wounds. I think I recognise-.

Yes.

"Artemis. Your master is dead. Kneel, and be spared."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
16:07 GMT

Worlds… Chained.

That's what I want. What I need. Why using the Orrery felt so natural, and why I could find it where these primitives could not. Some ancient god built this mechanism to more easily control its creation, and now it is mine. Arms connecting orbs which both represent worlds and in some sense are those worlds. Bound together by a single will.

I'm not Darkseid. I don't want other people to be part of me. I want them subservient. I don't want to look upon my creation and feel fear at the sight of my reflection. I want to look upon my creation and see the ordered universe set in motion at my will. I want to feel satisfaction and the elegance and efficiency.

Apokolips was a pit. The more I saw of it, the more I hated it. Which was undoubtably why Father made a point of showing so much of it to me.

"How did-?"

The pretender's agent looks stunned, and without him interfering… I can dimly feel her, their relationship… Not an agent. I think he… Is this..? Love? I have no direct experience with it, but their bond is clearly not the domitor-subservient relationship that I'm used to.

I walk slowly towards her feeling out the hole in her metaphysique left by the pretender's absence. She feels strong, and their relationship stable. She can't be a Fury; Granny would never allow one not emotionally stunted to be deployed with a New God of any significance. Where is she from?

"He was inferior. He no longer exists."

I must discover for certain what happened, but it is not of primary importance. And I will do that alone-

Ping.

-and not-.

I look down at my waist, where a Mother Box is attached to my belt. His Mother Box, but from the feel of its spirit it will work for me just as well.

Puzzling.

I do.. not remember any instances of one New God killing another of the same nature and having anything like this happen. The orange avaricious light of his power ring interacted in some way with the Omega Force residing within my soul.

"No! That can't-. I can still feel him!"

"You feel me. Our metaphysiques are near identical. I am not sure what your bond was, but-" Sinthia readies herself for action, but I still her with a gesture. "-I will soon occupy his place in your life."

Her initial horror fades a little as the shock wears off.

"What's this-" Her eyes flick for a moment to the Orrery. "-thing for?"

"Controlling the Vega systems. You are aware that it is not a natural formation."

"Too many systems too close together, and too many habitable planets. And then there's the moat."

"Just so. Some ancient species arranged things so, and this is a relic of their work."

Though now that the pretender is dead, the destruction of his nascent empire in Vega is no longer necessary. Indeed, it may be counterproductive, especially if the Controllers take advantage of the situation in order to take full possession of the Orange Central Power Battery. By My Will, Be Still.

The Orrery responds, the movement of the arms and the spinning of the spheres slowing. I will rearrange the interior later when I have their compliance.

I feel the comparative lack of resistance due to the pretender's absence. A moment more and I.. connect to what he built. The patterns of devotion and loyalty. Strange, but still compatible.

"How old are we talking here?"

"My Father did not yet rule Apokolips. Sinthia, fetch the queen. She has an accord to confirm."

"Yes, my lord."

Sinthia leaves, the space around the Orrery itself distorting as the device makes an allowance for an object that has no equivalent in the Vega Systems themselves.

"Sending your bodyguard away." She raises her bow slightly to remind me of its presence. "Risky move."

"Not really. Your love for the pretender is now mine. Your soul and mine are meshing even now. Soon, you will not be able to separate us in your mind. Even now, you hesitate."

"You're not him." She frowns. "Or… Where did his body go, anyway?"

The disadvantage of strong servants is that they're not weak. A Fury would bow at once, but she maintains a sense of herself. Since she has, I suspect that an honest answer would serve me best. It is what she would have received from the pretender.

"I do not know."

"You kinda look like him."

"He was pretending to be me. Naturally, he would look like me."

"No, it's more than that. Your armour's more like his than it was a moment ago, and the bits of your face where you got hurt… I think they're his."

She believes that we have merged? I know of no records of that occurring, but only Father and myself have used the Omega Force. I truly do not know what could occur when two New Gods with the same God Name are involved. Given how closely he copied me, it is entirely plausible that he could have integrated it as I have.

"And you've got his Mother Box and his rings. Shame about the personality."

No, more than that, I appear to have acquired his ridiculous sword as well. And his rings. Could-?

Lantern Grayven, I would appreciate an-.
Clothing Is To Be Worn, Not Heard.
"What exactly is the difference between him and you?"

"I won. My fleet is stronger, my planning better, my metaphysique more potent."

"Yeah, but in terms of what you want to do. If you want me to work for you, I'm gunna need to know that stuff."

"You do not. You need to know how to obey."

"Sure, you're all about being in charge, but I'm gunna have to decide things on my own sometimes, right?"

Not unreasonable. I have chosen to leave many gordanian social structures intact simply due to efficiency concerns, and it is helpful that I can predict their actions based on those habits.

"From what I have learned, I am more authoritarian. I do not tolerate alternate sources of authority in my domain. No lesser kings, no nobles with hereditary titles and no democracy. Authority flows from-"
Hunter's Eyes.
"-me."

Something about that made me less able to feel her, and her expression is changing.

"Thanks. 'cause now I look real close, I can see the differences."

"Good. That will be helpful-."
Arrow Of Collegiality.
There's an arrow in my chest, and… Total autocracy is impractical in an empire of any size, what was I-?

"And that tells me where to shoot."
Arrow Of Fellowship.
Another in my arm. She's bypassing my armour. Ring, obey me!

I think not.

I stare-. No, this is Artemis, I'm not going to-.
Arrow Of Diplomacy.
An arrow appears in my left leg as I run towards her.

"Grayven was kind of an ass, but he was better-"
Arrow Of Uplift.
"-than-"
Arrow Of Self-Depreciation.
"-you."
Arrow Of Humor.
NO-!

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
16:11 GMT

I…

"Uuuugh."

What… Happened..?

"Are you you, or do I gotta shoot you again?"

'Do I got'-?

My face creases up. "Please don't use grammar like that around my children. I want them to-."

I feel pressure on my broken-. No, not broken? Arm, as Artemis pulls me up. I Am Sworn To Carry Your Burdens, Apparently.

"I'm sure it woulda been real clever, but you need to pretend to be the other guy when Sinthia gets back with the queen."

I regain my feet and focus my eyes… Yes, eyes working, body… Not in any sort of pain and I should be. I feel a momentary impulse to check my wounds and face, but suppress it. The other Grayven wouldn't-.

"Can you make a fake body, really fast?"

"Why are there arrows sticking out of my-?"
Clean The Carcass.
I frown as the arrows sticking painlessly in my body in various places vanish. "You know I hear that, right?"

"Focus, Grayven."

"You know that's not actually my name? I just faked it to steal stuff from the Forever People, and then this all happened."

"What?!" She blinks in astonishment, but recovers. "No. No, not-. Not urgent, but you're going to be explaining that later."

"Sure thing, Artemis." I smile at her. I'm really lucky to have her. "I'm happy to share anything with you."

Her face falls. "I think I might of shot you too hard."

"Have shot-."

"Body!"

Ah… Right. Ring, I need a reasonable facsimile.

By your command.

Light strobes out of my ring, building up a fake body on a section of the floor. It's not biological and it won't pass any sort of investigation and… It's taking longer to do this than it used to.

Wait, I-.

"What?"

"I remember arriving here. Ah, and activating the Orrery. And-. Artemis, what happened?"

"I'm-. Not.. sure. Either you merged together and I made sure that you won, or you got erased by the Omega Effect and I shot the other Grayven until he turned into you."

"Oh." That's… Bad.

"Do you still remember you? I mean, Earth Grayven?"

"I live in a mountain near Rifle, Colorado, and have adopted nine…"

I suddenly get a flash of Grayven's actual interactions with Mortalla. Of her talking to him after one of the walks he took with Father-. Darkseid-. I think she was actually trying to mother him, though… Yes, I feel his feelings. He didn't even notice.

"Nine children. And-. I think it's going to be easier for me to take control of Grayven's military… I don't think you're going to like this."

"If I surrender to you. 'You'."

"And probably if Lynne does as well. The Queen is going to be trickier, and then I've got to decide what we're actually going to do with the fleet."

"You're not just gunna kill them all?"

"We didn't kill all the Sheeda."

"We needed the Sheeda."

"I don't feel like slaughtering an entire people. Even if they kind of deserve it."

"Again."

"I don't feel like slaughtering an entire people, even if they kind of-"

She chuckles quietly.

"-deserve it. Mother Box, boom tube to Lynne."

Ping.

"I take your point, but these aren't the-"

BOOM!

"-citadelians or the psions. They're chancers in a violent universe. If wouldn't be right to exterminate them without at least giving them a chance to get onboard."

She regards me curiously for a moment. Then something occurs to her. "And the Justice League's here."

"And the Justice League's here. So, are you alright swearing allegiance?"

She shrugs. "I basically have anyway."

"Thank you. I-."

Sinthia and the two surviving Zamarons escort a blood-splattered Queen Clryssa out of an adjacent corridor and bring her before me. I pause for a moment, then focus on.. Grayven's memories of how he dealt with these people.

I turn slightly away, letting them bring the queen closer before I acknowledge-.

Lynne steps through the boom tube.

**Poppet, play along.**

**Daddy?**

**Probably. [Images of my fight and what Artemis said.] I'll need you to clue the queen in without the others picking up on it.**

**Yes, Daddy.**

Lynne walks towards me, stopping exactly the same distance away as Artemis is standing. I don't hear any telepathic traffic between them, but they both kneel at the same time. Now, if there was another New God here this would be a problem. This sort of pledge involved deliberately binding one soul as subject to the other. But since there's no one here who can pick up on it, I settle for stepping forward and touching each on the head.

"Rise, my servants."

"Lord Grayven." / "Lord Grayven." **I've told her.**

Then I turn to the queen. I don't see anything in her manner that suggests that she's in any way reassured, but she's a reasonable politician and can probably control her own features to a degree.

"Queen Clryssa. I have won. I can send the worlds of the Vega Systems crashing into one another at will and your throneworld lays under my guns. You will offer me your surrender, and then we will draft the peace treaty. Hopefully, no occupation will be necessary."

"And if I refuse?"

"If all of the suns of Vega were to go nova, you would have roughly a century to evacuate your entire empire before the radiation wave hit and this region was scoured of life. And then there are the casualties that the Crown Imperium would suffer as my fleet eliminated its military capacity. Surrender really is for the best."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
16:23 GMT

"Good." I nod to Artemis as Queen Clryssa signs the paper that we'll be tearing up as soon as I've had time to re-crew the Absolute Dominion. "Convey this to the pretender's followers. If they will abide by it, the truce will begin as soon as knowledge of it can be communicated to my captains."

"Yes, Lord Grayven."
It feels so wrong to hear her say it like that. I know it's just a scheme but it shouldn't be happening!
The hush tube makes no noise as it opens, and Sinthia looks mildly curious as Artemis appears to vanish into thin air. Right. Grayven wouldn't-.

A flash of memory, the techniques he used for gathering information. Advanced scouts in ships designed to fit in with mercenary crowds more or less just asking around. Asking governments about work in what appears to have effectively been an upgraded phishing scam, telling them where there might be bribable defenders or weak points. Looking around in a mildly suspicious but in-character sort of way. Beyond that, he relied on the astonishingly good sensors on the Absolute Dominion and boom tubed commandoes.

Not a master of covert operations. In fact, I'd rate-.

For one horrible moment I can't distinguish between the two sets of memories. Like there aren't two distinct sets, and I'm forced to think about every single one before I know whether it started as mine or not. I don't let it show on my face, not with his allies present. But I'm going to need to talk to someone about that.

From what Grayven learned, the Orrery was created by angelic-looking creatures as a tool for controlling the Vega Systems. Supposedly, they hid it here when Larfleeze started fighting them, which… Might explain why he thought it was a good idea to bring the Orange Central Power Battery here when on the run from the Guardians. They might consider a thief to be beneath their notice, but an intrusion from creatures like the Guardians would be more likely to provoke a response.

Its very existence is an existential threat to everything in Vega. I'd like to move it, but I don't know if I can risk it. Leaving it here -particularly when the queen is likely to be quite angry with me- isn't something I really want to do.

But here's the problem. Grayven kept Sinthia around him most of the time. He wouldn't leave her to guard something like this. Ovula and Muliebria would be treated like that, but they lack the discipline to make good guards and neither of them were the brains of the outfit. They might play with it, or be distracted if Gavyn broke in and did something regrettable to it.

Hang on, didn't Komand'r say something about Thanagarian mercenaries..? Yes, from both sets of memories. The Blades of Alstair. Floraphiles then, but it's not like I wanted good relations with Thanagar. Ring, send them a message.

By your command.

"Ace." Again, I don't visibly wince. "Remain here until relieved. Study the artefact but take no chances. I would not have my prize destroyed."

"Yes, Lord Grayven." **You can do this, Daddy.**

**I hope you're right.**

Because I'm going to be surrounded by people with no reason to wish me well. If Grayven had had the time to turn Sinthia into a New God, or if his relations with Father were good enough-. With Darkseid were good enough to ask for an assistant, this would… Not be going well.

And that's without worrying about what he's going to make of this.

Mother Box.

Ping.

"With me, all of you."

I walk through the hush tube, appearing on the bridge of the Absolute Dominion. No one took my s-. His station… My station during my absence, but the ranking officer makes a gesture of acquiescence as he sees me. Sinthia follows as I resume my station, the ship easily accepting my return as it feeds information to my metaphysique. I don't say anything out loud, I merely will it so and the transmission systems ready themselves to relay the queen's message.

Sinthia comes through the hush tube next, followed by the queen and the zamarons. I smile as I point to the spot the queen will be using to make the broadcast, while Sinthia resumes the executive officer station and the other two take something approximating guard stations. I wait until the queen is standing exactly where I told her to before entering the area and activating the privacy screen.

Sinestro.

There are limits to what I can do where New God technology is concerned. But I believe that the screen is functioning as directed.

Thank you.

You're welcome. It is… Good to have you back.

I position myself so that the bulk of my body blocks the view of the queen's mouth from the rest of the bridge.

"Okay, it should be safe-."

"I am not happy about this."

"No one's happy about this. If you've got a better idea for resolving this with fewer casualties, then I'm all ears. I'm the one giving up worlds that would have been colonised by the tamaraneans."

"You're obliging me to let my enemies go, to let them destroy our ships and military instillations without recompense!"

Her body posture doesn't change, and her facial expression only changes as much as it needs to in order to add proper vehemence to her words.

"Without Grayven they can't use this ship at anything like full effectiveness, but I'm running on fumes myself and their fleet is more than powerful enough to destroy every city on Kranaltine. This isn't a surrender; this is manipulating an enemy into giving up an advantageous position." I give her a moment to think. "We can try fighting it out if you really want, but your people will suffer a lot more."

"He came here for you."

"Actually, no. I mean, he wanted me dead, but his plan was to marry you and use the Crown Imperium as the starting point for his galactic empire. It being far easier to usurp an existing power hierarchy than to create a new one."

Queen Clryssa is not an attractive woman, physically, mentally or spiritually. Given that her sole claim to power is being the oldest child of the previous monarch I imagine that Grayven's god powers would have reduced her to an ornamental heir factory before too long. I actually feel-. Sympathy. Not for her -if you can't make something of your life with all of the advantage she had, there's really no hope for you- but for him. I'd hate being married to someone like that, and I think at this point I'm half him.

"Also, he had a reserve fleet of cannibals ready to depopulate the region in case his plan didn't work out. I went and dealt with them first, but we're going to be settling them too."

"What will you tell them?"

"That you surrendered and that we're going to be building our population and industrial base before we do anything else. And that since everyone's swearing allegiance to me there's no point in further fighting. That'll maintain the peace until I've sounded a few people out about the truth." I pause. I'd like to shrug, but that's an un-Grayven-like gesture. "Or I use my telepathic servants and innate magics to change how they feel about it and then tell them. Once the shooting stops a plethora of options become available." I pause again. "Or we can try fighting. Mother Box, casualty projections?"

"Ping."

"Quite. Well?"

She hesitates, then nods. "I am ready."

"Go ahead." Hear Us.

"Nobles and soldiers of the Crown Imperium. We have peace."

 

[Mr Zoat]

A Waltz in Orange and Green

10th September 2012
08:54 GMT

"Warning! Will Detected!" / "Warning! Will Detected!" / "Green Alert!" / Incoming Green Lantern.

Lanterns Xor, Dul and Onik look to me for direction, but all I can do is shrug.

"I'm not expecting anyone. Ring, contact Lantern Toren."

"Compliance."

Xor turns away and swings a giant hand construct, catching the outlaw transport ship around the middle of its hull and arresting its progress. Interestingly, it's Onik and not Dul who takes the lead in boarding operations. Dul is fully invested in realpolitik; the fact that the Guilders eat people only really bothers her because the people they eat might end up being thanagarians. Onik on the other hand is managing to internalise my 'ideal universe' ideology, and you don't have to be the Universe's Greatest Humanoidist to realise that the Guild isn't part of that.

My ring flickers, then Toren's face appears.

"Expecting company?"

"No. Are you?"

"Ah, I don't get alerts for Orange Lanterns but I'm not expecting anyone else, no. Why?"

"The ships' identification marks them as coming from Sector One Six Three Four."

Oh dear.

"Is it Lantern Priest?"

"No."

Oooooooooh sh-ugar.

"Has Lord Malvolio said what he wants?"

"As far as I could tell, he's here for tourism."

"That sounds astonishingly unlikely."

"I agree. How powerful is he?"

"If I'm not bonded to the Ophidian, he's more powerful than me. Given the period of history he's from I'd like to think that his understanding of science and technology is worse than mine, but he's had centuries to bring himself up to date and he struck me as being rather serious. And he has an entire Space Sector's worth of willing tutors who've hailed him as their god-king."

"I see."

"What have the Guardians told you about him?"

"That he's a murderous tyrant who killed a Green Lantern and stole his ring. Are you going to tell me that is untrue?"

"I'd be surprised if the Guardians told a direct lie I could easily disprove. It's incomplete, seeing as how his Sector was a war zone before I freed him. I haven't checked, how's it doing now?"

"I don't know. The Sector doesn't have a Green Lantern any longer."

"I would respectfully point out that that isn't true. It doesn't have a member of the Green Lantern Corps, but that doesn't mean the same thing."

Though… That probably means that Lantern Priest is dead. Either that or they promoted him to train up an Honour Guard taskforce. They might offer Malvolio the Larfleeze deal but I rather doubt that he'd take it. On the other hand… Beyond some measure of recompense for them imprisoning him, what does he actually want? Does he have something against me for Mr. Allen's breach of hospitality?

I suppose I should check…

"Is Lantern Priest dead?"

"I don't know. He isn't answering his ring, but ring communications can be blocked. Or he might have resigned."

Well, shazbot.

"Want me to go and talk to him?"

"Identity theft complete."

"I was going to suggest that you leave the Sector."

"We'll do that if that's what you want, but as far as I can tell he has more reason to hate you than me. I've got a slightly higher chance of finding out why he's here without violence."

"Identity theft complete."

"That statement is at odds with everything I know about you. Still, at least it will give me more time to prepare."

"I'll let you know how it goes. Illustres out."

"Identity theft complete."

I shut down the ring communication and look at my squadron. Xor is making the hull good for transport, while Onik is assimilating the crew. Dul on the other hand is giving me her full attention.

"More powerful than you?"

"Come and talk to me again in four hundred years."

"Humans don't live four hundred years."

"It's unusual, but it does happen. Vandal Savage is about forty eight thousand years old and Nommo Balewa is around eleven thousand."

She regards me with the scepticism of someone who fully expects to be wrong but who can't let that go unchallenged. "Forty eight thousand years."

"He doesn't have a lot to show for it, honestly. Other than the fact that most of my species is descended from him. But anyway, Lord Malvolio appears to have transcended his physiology by just being that good a Lantern. My friend Alan's done something similar with the blue light."

I turn back to our other colleagues.

"Can the two of you cope without us?"

"Yes, Illustres." / "Yes Illustres."

"Lantern Dul, you're on wingman duty. Both eyes open, speak only in response to direct questions. If things turn violent, run. Clear?"

"Run where?"

"Good question. Ah. Let's say 'Maltus'. Clearer?"

"Yes, Illustres."

"Right then. Warp in two, one, now."

Space bends and… I can see the brilliant green glow that marks Lord Malvolio's location. At least I hope that's Lord Malvolio, because otherwise there are two ludicrously powerful Green Lanterns around the place.

"Why do you think he's here?"

"This is the galaxy's centre for green light worship. I suspect he's here to pick up people interested in his heterodox version of the faith."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
08:59 GMT

The fleet he's brought -and I can feel the green from the other side of the system- is large, but it's 'escort important head of state' large, rather than 'you're now being invaded' large. There are a wide variety of ship configurations so I'm going to assume that they haven't settled on a doctrine-.

No, that's not what this is. Each species under his aegis has sent a small flotilla. He's showing that he rules a multi-species polity. Communicating that there's no reason why you couldn't be one of them. Most empires have a core species and then treat others better or worse depending on their philosophy. Krypton generally treated the worlds they dominated alright, though any active resistance was put down comprehensively as a reminder that it wasn't a negotiation. Controllers are excellent people to be ruled by, as the populations they've rehoused will attest. At the far opposite end of the spectrum, we have the Reach and their quicksand approach to empire building: looking relatively harmless until you're stuck and then pulling you under and drowning you.

He wants to be clear to everyone seeing this galaxy's centre of Lanternism that that isn't how he does things.

"Ring, contact… Squire Wallace."

"Communication request sent."

Because when Lord Malvolio ends a conversation with 'This is not the end', it's probably best to find out exactly what he meant by that first.

A construct holoprojector appears in front of me, and a moment later an image of Lord Malvolio's personal assistant shimmers into being.

"Lantern-." He starts in surprise. "Orange Lantern. This is… Unexpected. What brings you here?"

"Access to records concerning past Lanterns second only to those of Oa. I assume that your master is here for much the same reason?"

"I would not presume to answer such a question on his behalf."

"Fair enough. The locals are a little concerned about your fleet being here. Would you care to relay your master's intentions?"

"He has requested that any Lantern who makes contact be conveyed into his presence at the earliest opportunity."

"I wasn't certain if -given our past altercation- such a request would include me."

"He directly stated that it included Lantern Jordan. You weren't mentioned, but I have no reason to believe that he holds you in greater disfavour."

"Okay. I'm available now. Is there a queue?"

"No, you are invited immediately. Please come to the command cruiser at once."

"Certainly. I will be with you shortly."

I end the communication, glancing at Lantern Dul as I do so. I could bring her with me, even if she ended up having to wait outside during my meeting. On the other hand, if it came to a fight, she'd just be in the way. And it would be useful to have someone out here keeping an eye on things.

"Lantern Dul, monitor things from here. Let me know if the fleet makes any overtly aggressive action."

Her eyes are locked on the ship upon which I can feel Lord Malvolio's presence.

"That's a human?"

"Broadly."

Hm. I'm not going to try stepping out anywhere near Lord Malvolio again and space warping seems… Dubiously wise. Instead, I make an inertia-suppression drive construct and use that to fly across the system, careful to avoid looking at my own sensor readings as I go.

These things are slow and require huge amounts of power when compared to other faster than light systems, to say nothing of the… Physics anomalies which can sometimes result from incautious use. But I've survived contact with an actual deliberate time machine, so I'm not too worried. And almost no one bothers trying to interdict them for much the same reasons that no one really uses them and because no one really uses them, which means that Lord Malvolio almost certainly won't. No one in Sector 1634 had the technology, so…

And I'm here, lights illuminating… I think that's a landing bay, though it doesn't appear to have a significant quantity of fighters or bombers inside. Visitor landing? Or perhaps Lord Malvolio's private landing area. I dismiss my construct and fly to it at a more sedate pace. Hm, multi-layer atmosphere shield. Usually ship builders consider that to be unnecessary, as it's easier to throw up an impermeable shield or actual armour if something goes wrong with the first one. Not sure what that says about Lord Malvolio or his ship builder. There's enough space in here for a shuttle or two, but it's empty at the moment. I wonder-?

A door in the side of the room opens, and Wallace walks in with an escort of two soldiers. Dreadnaughts wearing primitive looking power armour. Their species was one of the most active during the wars following Lord Malvolio's disappearance, and not as a unified faction. I'm glad for the neighbours that they've accepted his return, and nervous for their slightly more distant neighbours that they've accepted his return.

"Orange Lantern. Thank you for arriving so promptly."

"No trouble, Wallace. Is his lordship at home?"

"He is on the ship and eager to speak with you."

I fly closer and land just ahead of him, his bodyguards appearing not at all troubled.

"Lead the way, then."

He walks back between his bodyguards and through the door by which he entered, and I walk along beside him. The guards fall in behind us, their greater size making them take one step for every three of ours.

"Has Lord Malvolio given any indication of how he feels about our last encounter?"

"In what sense, sir?"

"The Flash's gross violation of Lord Malvolio's hospitality. I rather assumed that he would hold us all responsible."

"It is true, he was quite enraged. Since then, however, I have had the liberty to visit the Earth, and learn a little more of what the Sheeda did that so enraged your party."

"You've visited Earth?"

"Covertly. Lord Malvolio was mindful that his personal arrival would have been somewhat provocative, and I did not wish to draw undue attention unto myself." He frowns mildly. "Still, the behaviour of The Flash seemed to be somewhat at odds with his typical character."

"A normal war might last years, but individual soldiers won't spend more than a tiny proportion of that actually fighting. The Justice League fought multiple times each day for months on end, for the entire war. The Flash moves at supernatural speed, but for him the rest of the world slows down. For him, each fight wasn't minutes or hours, it was days or years. Or longer. He spent centuries of subjective time looking at all of the evils the Sheeda inflicted on humanity at close range."

"I see. Yes, his behaviour is a good deal more explicable when viewed in that light. What has become of him?"

"At the time, not a lot. With things how they were, we just couldn't spare him. Now, he's on a leave of absence and getting therapy. We can't risk someone with his abilities losing control of himself like that again."

"And the Sheeda? What of them?"

"Very few Sheeda were captured alive. In theory, those held by various Earth nations should have been handed over to the special tribunals that were set up by the agreement of Earth's governments to try and punish them for their actions during the war. Most were found guilty of capital crimes, though a few didn't meet the required threshold. Those are in prison."

"And so die the Sheeda."

"Not necessarily. I would be surprised if some of the more powerful countries didn't offer a few sanctuary in exchange for their knowledge of magic or biotechnology. And… The Sheeda are humans from the far future. In theory, our descendants will become like them. It's just a matter of time."

"A most disquieting thought."

"Possibly due to our studying the biological material they brought back with them."

"Why would anyone desire to become such as they?"

"One gene sequence to grant greater longevity, one for faster wound healing, another for visual acuity or intelligence. Immunity to cancer…" I shrug. "Improving yourself seems like a good idea, and then eventually you look back and wonder how you got where you are."

"A subject on which we could both opine."

I just nod.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
09:05 GMT

"Orange Lantern Paul. Or should I say, Lord Illustres?"

The room in which Lord Malvolio is receiving me is a smaller version of his audience chamber/throne room back on his space station. The throne is absent, the smaller space not requiring the same gallantry to dominate. It's replaced with a heavy curved stool which both supports him and subtly emphasises his huge size.

"Either is accurate. I am an Orange Lantern and my rank is Illustres. In some cultures that warrants the appellation 'lord', but the Orange Lantern Corps has no such title structure. Either are preferable to 'wyrmling'."

"Lord Illustres, then. Why have you come here?"

"I wish to improve my abilities as a trainer. The records on Karax are excellent, and I hope to learn from them."

"There are other men such as you, who wield orange light as I wield green?"

"There are a large number of other Orange Lanterns, yes. I have a particular relationship with the orange light which none have entirely been able to replicate, much as I have not seen any Green Lanterns who have… Developed their abilities quite as you have."

"None at all? The thought vexes me and leaves me discomported."

"Humans appear to have a natural affinity for certain types of exotic energy. It may be due to our world being naturally rich in magic; my studies on the subject are incomplete."

"Other than Harold Jordan, who amongst our people serves the Guardians of Oa?"

"May I ask why you wish to know?"

He frowns mildly, staring directly at me.

"If I meant them ill, I would have acted upon my intent long before this day. I wish to learn of them that I may learn of myself."

"I apologise. The true names of certain empowered heroes is not usually public knowledge; you are asking me for privileged information that I am not necessarily at liberty to share."

The stare decreases in intensity, but the frown does not fade.

"Their names are secret? Is that a measure to ward off witchcraft?"

"Ah, might do, actually. It's more that… There was a certain… I'm sorry, I don't know much about the politics of the era in which you grew up."

"I am disposed to assume that matters of disestablishment and limits of parliamentary authority have been resolved; intractable as they did seem, it has been the passing of four centuries as the Earth measures time."

I frown. "I'm sorry; when exactly did you leave?"

"Shortly after the news of the decapitation of King Charles reached mine home in Salford."

"Oh, the English Civil War! Yes! Ah, England still has an established church but attendance is not mandatory and individuals are free to practice whatever faith they like or none at all. And after the parliamentary government collapsed, and after Cromwell reigned as a tyrant and eventually died, Charles the Second was invited back into the country to take the throne. He did alright, but he was succeeded by his brother who was so unpopular that parliament invited his daughter and her husband to take over which more or less established parliamentary supremacy, though the eventual shift in power from the House of Lords to the House of Commons wasn't completed for another two hundred years."

"Doth that bear any relation to the true name of Earth's other Lanterns?"

"Ah. No, I suppose not. I just thought that you might find it interesting. Essentially, the masked vigilante tradition arose in America, where those involved would wear masks to protect themselves against prosecution for their unlawful activity by the authorities they shamed with their superlative achievements. It also served to protect their friends and families from retaliation by the criminals they fought. And while some of Earth's Lanterns have their names in the public domain, not all do."

"Tis a strange thing, but I will not require you to betray their confidence."

"Thank you. Alan Scott picked up a green power ring in the nineteen thirties, and… Various things happened and he has a blue one now. Guy Gardner and Anya Savenlovich have green rings and public identities, while Green Lantern Two Eight One Four A's identity is not public knowledge."

"Then there are four human Green Lanterns at present."

"Yes. Oh, and Carol Ferris has a violet ring. That's it at the moment. Aside from you, obviously."

"I do not know the habits of the Guardians of Oa well, but that number strikes me an uncommonly high. Wallace, bring refreshment."

"At once, my lord."

He turns and leaves the audience chamber, presumably to head in the direction of the kitchens.

"Would you like a seat? As sovereign lord of all I survey I seldom play host to those who are my peers, but it seems that you are more in the manner of a near-equal."

"Thank you."

I float a little way into the air, then generate a construct stool in the same style as the one he's sitting on, but a little smaller and plainer.

"What brings you to Karax, Lord Malvolio? The local Green Lantern is concerned, given that you were on poor terms with the Guardians."

"I mean the man no malice. It would not be proper to blame every knight for the conduct of their king. My purpose here is peaceful pilgrimage, that I may learn the lore of the light I wield with my will."

"That… Might be difficult. The abbot of the order with one of the better libraries recently betrayed them, and a replacement hasn't been appointed yet. I suspect that the local Green Lantern is under orders not to aid you, and he's considered to be the authority around here. A lot of what they record is publically accessible, but a lot isn't."

"I would not wage war while peaceful paths are available. But what of you, Lord Illustres?"

"I'm happy to share with you. I'm curious about how a human becomes.. something like you. Blue Lantern Alan Scott is a good friend of mine, and he's.. not entirely a corporeal human any longer."

"His nature is now akin to mine own?"

"That would be my guess. The Atlanteans have a good understanding of the mechanics of the human soul, but their knowledge of alien technology is much worse. Magicians have always been able to bind themselves to power beyond themselves, but that wouldn't explain why some Lanterns undergo such a change and others don't."

"The mortal soul is a thing to be weighed and measured?"

"I have personally been to both Heaven and Hell. I don't recommend either, though Hell's the more honest."

"You have sojourned as Dante led by Virgil to the realms of the blessed and blighted dead?"

"Earth is a strange place filled with strange people. Would you like the full tale?"

He manages a small smile, though his missized lips make it look a little off.

"Verily."

"Then I should probably start with the reason for my first visit…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
09:05 GMT

"…to people. Assess the mood of the place. This would be a frustrating time for them to turn on us."

"Yes, lord." Sinthia nods, then turns away to get in touch with whatever contacts she has amongst the Citizenry's citizens.

Gone? Good. I find myself relaxing a little. With the various factions of Vega awkwardly co-existing with as little contact with possible it's been possible for me to perform flying visits by hush tube to reassure my allies that I'm me and that this is just a scheme to avoid further bloodshed. Myand'r got Blake to check me over, but he seemed willing to go along with it. The Tamaranean navy did… Okay. Frankly, it's not yet big enough to have a large impact separate from the Orange Lantern Corps, but Dox wasn't complaining and that's practically a ringing endorsement.

I can feel how much less happy with me Tamaran is. They are more willing to bleed for victory than not bleed for a negotiated settlement. I understand and to a degree sympathise, but it's a foolish impulse. I hope that we'll be able to drum that mindset out of the fleet at least.

The Citizenry doesn't really have guards, but some soldiers make a point of getting out of my way as I walk towards the doors to what used to be Astarte's quarters. The door opens as I reach my destination, and I spend a moment watching over Donna and Diana's shoulders as the giant silver snake on the wall monitor eats its way through yet another population.

I bite down my initial thought, and toss a noise-canceller down as the door closes.

"Progress?"

Diana remains entranced by the spectacle, but Donna turns to me. She's clearly not taking this well. I'm-.

I'm…

I don't really know what I am. But becoming half Apokoliptian in fact hasn't made me more sensitive to slaughter.

"Why did they..? Do any of this?"

"How would I know?"

She's clearly not happy about that. "I thought you had the other Grayven's memories."

"Yes, but he only made contact with Astarte a decade or so ago. And they only started fighting alongside one another a little over a year ago. Grayven-. He's old, but the galaxy is a big place. And the memories I got don't really have a common point of reference so I can't even tell you how old." I nod at the monitor. "Look, I get it's horrific, but there's nothing much to be gained at this juncture by watching all of the worlds they murdered get murdered. Are any of them suitable for habitation in the short term?"

"They are all heavily picketed." Diana shakes her head, her eyes remaining transfixed on the screen. "And I doubt that the Green Lantern Corps would be willing to leave the Citizenry their spacecraft."

"I can use the Orrery to create new small rocky worlds in Vega, but they wouldn't really be liveable for a while. Even if we use cold guns to speed up the solidification process, you've still got the atmosphere... Or rather, they wouldn't. Or soil."

I shrug.

"Hinon… Controller Hinon had another option."

"If it is better than the nothing I have, I will hear it."

"The Controllers are fighting the Reach. They're a pretty evil empire on the other side of the galaxy. The Controllers can always use more ships and soldiers, and they're willing to build a planet for the Citizenry if they agree to provide both. The Reach are who Grayven was fighting before he heard about me, so the Citizenry are already familiar with them."

"That would mean encouraging their warlike ways."

"Yes. This is what ruling somewhere that isn't an isolated island in the Aegean is like. This is what it means to leave your enemies alive. You will be constantly choosing between things you don't really want to do. Learn to enjoy it, or else you'll be miserable for a very long time."

Diana turns off the screen and then turns around to face me.

"I never expected to rule Themyscira. And now that I must rule a people I find I am unprepared for it."

I shrug.

"Technically, I can help with that. But you'd need to pledge yourself to me for me to be able to share my insight, and I don't think that's desirable. Of course, you… Could ask Queen Hippolyta to handle it. It's not like Themyscira really needs her."

"When things are more settled I will be discussing the situation with her at length. Including your suggestion that we simply wipe my aunt's memory."

"Do you have any plans for your cousin?"

"We are currently weaning her off all of the chemicals they were using to allow her to fight at our level. I do not even know if she will survive."

"Knockout managed to knock some sense into Persuader. You could just hand Theana over to me. She won't enjoy it much and I doubt that she'll reform, but I'll make sure that she's better directed and controlled."

"I believe that she.. can be made whole."

"Oh, I do too. I'm just not sure that spending all the time that would be required to do that on a single individual while the future of the Citizenry is in your hands is efficient." My eyes dip as I shake my head. "I didn't mean for that to sound like I'm enjoying your discomfort. It's just-."

She nods. "These are the decisions that a person must make when they are a ruler."

"Or not make them, and bear the responsibility for the outcome with none of the control. Alright, time for me to get checked out by Scott again. Donna, do you want a lift back to Earth?"

"No, I'm-. I'm going to stay. College will still be there in a year, and I-. You're right. I'm going to take some of that responsibility."

"Welcome to godhood. The hours are constant and the work is hard, but after a while you feel like a round peg finally being slotted into a round hole. Mother Box, hush tube."

"Ping."

I step out into the all too familiar New God diagnosis room in Scott's basement. Barda's gone back into mid-level hostile from the barely catty level we had managed to achieve, while Scott…

"Grayven. Sit down." "I'll never believe that people shouldn't have freedom, but maybe in your case you should exercise it a little less."

I sit down.

"So how badly have I messed up this time?" "I can no more defy my nature than you can."

"It's not how badly you messed up, it's how badly you're messed up."

"Ping."

He glances down at his Mother Box and nods.

"It's definitely the Omega Force. Have you actually tried using it?"

"No, I'm not that stupid." "I don't like unmaking things."

Barda regards Scott with a stony face. "How is that possible? Darkseid absorbed the Omega Force to become Darkseid."

"I don't know. How does it feel?"

I shrug. "It doesn't feel like anything much. Though whether that's because I have so many memories of it being there that it doesn't feel strange, or because it's not as active as Life Equals Pain I don't know."

He shakes his head. "That doesn't sound right."

No. It doesn't. "Or it's because it conflicts less with my nature. Eliminating my enemies is perfectly in tune with Conquest where being miserable all the time isn't. Any idea how we can store it outside of me?"

"Why not just get the ponies to shoot it again?"

"Just keeping my options open. This isn't crippling me and I might need it."

"I…" He shrugs. "I don't know how to do that, and I think if Himon did then he'd have said something by now."

"So we can't do it?"

"So we'll have to ask Metron."

…

Oh bother.

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
11:23 GMT

"…briefly studied Hobbes, but I certainly don't share his take on human nature."

I take a sip of the water Wallace fetched for me when I said that I didn't drink alcohol on duty. Naturally, Leviathan was the one book on political philosophy that Lord Malvolio brought with him from Earth. It perfectly reflects the politics of the era he's from and… It explains certain things about his Sector.

"No? Mine own experiences bear out the brutal barbarity of his beliefs. I reign as autocrat, and when banished, existence in mine empire became nasty, brutish and short."

"That's a product of the lack of direction. You had no heir, had made no succession arrangements and left them being ruled by a structure that couldn't operate without you. They had no way to resolve their differences without changing the system that you set in place, and their ideology wouldn't allow them to do that. So it became more and more dysfunctional until it broke down completely."

"And your suggested remedy is that I should beget an heir?"

"The succession doesn't need to be to a biological descendant. Roman Emperors designated their successors. Greek City-States would elect them. The important thing is that there's a process generally seen as legitimate that can put someone into office. If your followers had a mechanism for selecting a regent… You know them better than me. Would that have worked?"

"How could I trust a regent to remain virtuous?"

"Indoctrination. European history contains any number of wealthy men who chose to give up their worldly goods and join monasteries rather than live lives of self indulgence. Your followers were willing to kill and die for what they believed to be your will, even without you there to enforce it. Do you really believe that none of them could be relied upon to remain honest?"

"Is that how manners are managed in the Orange Lantern Corps?"

"No. That wouldn't work for us. An Orange Lantern is motivated by their desires. Instilling formal discipline at the age at which we recruit them wouldn't really work. Rather, we recruit not merely people with strong desires, but who genuinely desire to perform pro-social actions with them. Ideally, we'll get to a point where I don't need to keep an eye on everyone, I'll be able to trust them to do what I want by doing what they want."

"But for now?"

"We select people whose sense of self-worth is tied to their martial achievements or people who want to destroy our enemies. Our leader is a man whose strongest desire is to display his genius as an administrator and strategist."

"You do not lead?"

"I wouldn't do as good a job. My ego isn't tied up in having people follow my orders. I want to teach and guide, so that's what I do. If Dox dropped dead tomorrow it would be my job to find a replacement, but I just don't have the right desire set or skills to take it on in the longer term myself."

"And if your own self suffered a mortal injury?"

"Ah… The last couple of times that happened, it didn't stick. But if it did, then Dox would have to find someone similar to me to replace me. There would be a loss of skill in the role -I'm very good at what I do- but I'm not essential to the Orange Lantern Corps. And neither's he, and… If all of the senior Orange Lanterns died, Controller Hinon could take over. If every Orange Lantern died tomorrow, the Controllers would remake the Corps based on what we have built. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would work. We're not unified by a hierarchy of power and punishment, but by shared ideals."

"Is that at odds with how the Green Lanterns who serve the Guardians conduct their affairs?"

"Yes. The Guardians rule the Green Lantern Corps. For the most part they set only broad objectives, but their authority is unquestioned and their numbers are slowly decreasing. They are either unwilling or unable to either make more Guardians or pass command authority to others."

"And thus guarantee that in time they will suffer their own crisis of succession."

"Something like that. I imagine that if they vanished their Clarissi would take over with the support of their Honour Guard, but there would still be fairly major problems because they don't train Lanterns to do the things that they do."

"To what things do you refer?"

"Diplomacy. Green Lanterns don't get training in interstellar relations, and wouldn't have the authority of the Guardians even if they did. The pacts that grant Green Lanterns lawful authority across the galaxy would not be maintained or expanded. Green Lanterns also can't forge their own rings or personal lanterns."

"Not one of them?"

"It's a very rare ability, requiring total focus over a prolonged period of time. And then you don't necessarily get a particularly good one; forging is a difficult skill to learn. In the Orange Lantern Corps we have one man who can reliably do it, and he earnestly wants to destroy the entire universe. I can create orange personal lanterns, but so far only ones of very low quality."

A frown.

"What manner of man wishes to destroy creation?"

"A Qwardian Weaponer. Their culture was founded by… I don't think it's technically a god, but a being who wanted to destroy all creation, convert it into energy and absorb it. The Weaponers consider creating weapons and destroying things to be a sacred duty. I arranged for him to be employed because he'll do less harm working for us where we can see him rather than leaving him to his own devices."

"You could slay him."

"Then who would make our rings if the Controllers decide not to work with us? As I said, it's an uncommon skill. And now that I've accepted him, I don't think it would be right to kill him without evidence that he's fallen back on bad habits."

He nods.

"An inconsistent sovereign's word counts for little. Tell me, are there rings of avarice outside of your control?"

"Probably. Due to one of the actions I look against the first Orange Lantern, rings were scattered across the galaxy. There's almost no way for me to know whether or not we managed to recover them all, and there have been a couple of occasions in which I've been called in to deal with their recipients."

"And how did you treat with them?"

"Some were bandits, and I dealt with them as I would with any other bandit. Some were driven mad by their ring, and I dealt with them as I would any other madman. And some had mastered their ring. Those I offered a position in our Corps."

"Did those in the latter group all accept?"

"So far, but it's not a large sample."

"What would you do if they declined?"

"Depends. Are they doing anything I strongly disapprove of?"

"Let us say that you do disapprove, but not strongly."

"I'd have a discussion with them and sound them out, give them advice on how to remain sane while using an orange ring, but I wouldn't take the ring by force in that situation."

"You would not impress them?"

"I don't own the orange light. It's a part of every purposive being in the universe. I have no claim to it in its entirety."

"Do you believe that the Guardians of Oa feel as you do?"

"No, but they do think very long term. They were content to ignore Alan Scott for decades. May I ask why you're asking?"

"I have affirmed my intent to resolve my troubles in one; both to anoint an heir and secure my Sector. I shall do so by seeking men capable of wielding will, and by my own skill strike rings to make their authority."

"Good luck with that, but I think that the Guardians did something to make that impossible?"

"Is a thing already achieved impossible?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
11:31 GMT

Ooooooooooh.

"I had wondered why it was so big."

The very big lantern that used to be in Lord Malvolio's space station is now sitting in a cargo bay in his flagship, glowing vibrant green.

"The Guardians of Oa keep their secrets well; e'en after their servants have fought across the galaxy for millennia, little knowledge of their true methods has reached the ears of the hoi polloi. Know you why they used lanterns as their sigil?"

"A lantern on a stick used to be the tool and sign of office of their law enforcement. Much as law enforcement agencies on Earth have a seal despite us not sealing official documents with wax any longer, so they decided to keep the general shape with the charging devices that their agents use."

"A curious act; I had not thought them capable of such sentimentality."

"How easy would it be for Christianity to change its primary emblem from the cross to anything else?" I shrug as I try to work out how large a problem this is likely to be. "And Christianity has barely been around for two thousand years. The Green Corps has used Lanterns for millions."

"They do it then not for their own benefit but for the benefit of those they claim to protect."

"It might be sentimentality. Or it could be that the current design works and so they don't see any purpose in changing it."

"By what I know of their staid natures, the latter is more likely."

"I don't know. Appa Ali Apsa seemed like he had a little more life in him."

"You know their names?"

"I've met them all briefly. Their names aren't secret, they just don't value them, or value individuality. And they've all known each other for so long that they don't need to use them in conversation with each other. Controller Hinon thinks it's a stupid affectation, so it might be just the younger ones who are weird about names."

I take a closer look at the giant lantern, giving it a scan for good measure.

"What is it for? I assumed that you got a personal lantern from… Ah…"

"Mine natural father."

"I… Hadn't realised that he was your father."

"I came home to find mine mother being assailed by what I perceived to be a demon. T'was only after I ran him through that I learned truth."

"Ah, 'assailed'?"

"In congress."

Ah.

I mean, it's never been a problem for me, but I imagine that maintaining the focus required for an environmental shield while engaged in sexual relations isn't that easy for a Green Lantern.

"I know that killing a Green Lantern doesn't disqualify a person from getting the ring after them, but I'm a little surprised that you were able to keep it."

"I thought it a talisman of his vile magics, that I risked all the fiends of Hell descending upon Manchester should my will fail e'en for a moment."

"They didn't… Try communicating?"

"I thought them the fiend's diabolic masters, and told them such. The ring fought me, but I fought for all the souls of the men of Christendom."

"And then?"

"It fell silent, and resisted me not. Later, Priest visited mine abode and explained affairs at a greater length."

"The AI." I nod. "They fried the AI, like they did for Yalan Gur."

"You refer to the ring's vocal spirit?"

"I don't think it's a spirit, though I…"

I mean, the AI can't be built into the physical structure of the ring, it has to be a stable light structure… Doesn't it? That… Would make it sort of a spirit. I wonder if binding spells would work to shut down a ring's AI? Have to test that at some point.

"Yes. Which means that you wouldn't have had access to its database."

"Indeed I did not. Priest's teaching showed me how to harness the light of will well enough, but the Guardians barred me from their order."

"So what's this for?"

"If I cannot join their Corps, I will simply make mine own. My imprisonment gave me much time to contemplate mine own power, and to build this."

I'm forced to compare this scaled-up personal lantern to my own work.

Well.

He had four hundred years.

"And how are you doing for rings?"

"A trying task. E'en now, something of their nature defeats me."

"I've got to be honest here: I've been offloading a lot of the calculations regarding my more complex constructs onto my ring's AI."

"Can mine be repaired, do you know?"

"It's probably-." Was Alan's repaired by his new personal lantern, or was it a completely fresh installation? "I would guess so, but I wouldn't know how to do it. Unless you felt like changing to orange?"

"You have your colour, while I have mine."

"Though actually, this could be a useful training exercise. Would you mind if I brought my students in to have a look? We could brainstorm techniques together."

"You feel no hesitancy in conspiring against the Guardians?"

"Well… The Guardians have done a good job for millions of years. But they're hardly faultless, and… Ultimately, they're not the boss of me. I'd like to improve my own abilities and those of my students, and… Your situation could be one that my friend Alan is going to end up in eventually. Unlike the Guardians I don't have a particular problem with you ruling a Sector… I'm not signing up to make you King of the Galaxy or anything, but I see no reason not to cooperate at the moment."

"Well said. I do not object to the presence of your students. Indeed, I am curious to meet more Lanterns than those I have encountered to date."

"Rightoh, I'll call them. Illustres to Lantern Xor. Are you finished?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
11:44 GMT

"Lord Malvolio, permit me to introduce Lantern Xor, Lantern Dul and Lantern Onik."

Despite Malvolio's size, Xor is still quite a bit larger than him. Neither of them seem particularly concerned about their physical size; Malvolio is perfectly confident that his will and ring-power would be sufficient in any fight and Xor is perfectly used to being around smaller people. Dul on the other hand is clearly more interested in the giant personal lantern while Onik can't decide what he's more interested in.

"I greet you. I am Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame, sovereign lord of the region of space you know as Sector Sixteen Thirty Four and the ruler of its people."

Dul's eyes narrow slightly. "I didn't think that Green Lanterns were allowed to rule entire Sectors."

"I am not beholden to the Guardians of Oa. Nay, indeed, their agents are dispatched to act against me and dispute my will and rightful rule."

Ah…

"You're not a part of the Green Lantern Corps."

"Indeed I am not."

"When you say 'act against me', do you mean that Green Lanterns are attacking your empire right now?"

"No, worry not. Priest confronted me ere I sojourned from mine place of imprisonment, but I dispatched him swiftly."

"'Dispatched' as in dead, or..?"

"He lives, disarmed and isolated. The love I bore him as mine tutor is such that e'en now, slaying him would not sit well with me. As for the rest, they have scouted mine domains and been instructed to leave by mine fleets. Matters have not yet escalated."

"But you think that they will?"

"I would strive for a position of power whether they do or not."

"Fair enough. Any other questions for our host?"

"Are you recruiting?"

Lantern Dul barely waited for me to finish talking before asking the question. I frown, my eyes darting to Malvolio's hands. No second ring, but there's no reason why it wouldn't be somewhere else on his person. I can't imagine that he'd have sent it back to Oa, though I suppose that it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he let it go under the assumption that it would select someone in the Sector who was already loyal to him.

"I will anoint those amongst my men whom I judge capable and worthy."

"So don't bother posting advertisements in the Thanagarian Empire because they're never going to get it."

"No, but Thanagar would be happy to trade for the services of Lanterns."

"And I may treat with ambassadors and I may in the fullness of time make such strategic alliances as are convenient to me. But such is not our purpose here."

"It's no secret that I can make personal lanterns. Lord Malvolio-" I gesture to his… I'm not sure what it qualifies as. Secondary Green Central Power Battery? Coterie Lantern? "-has rather surpassed my efforts to date, and neither of us have successfully made a ring. Since these are both learnable skills, that's what we'll be studying today."

"The creation of this Great Lantern took many weeks of dedicated effort. I am curious to observe your efforts."

I doff my armour and sit cross-legged on the floor, my eyes nearly closed but my empathic vision turned up all the way. Malvolio's presence is near-blinding, but I've gotten a better feel for the others during our time here and can easily… See where their desires integrate with mine.

I also note that Lantern Xor has sat down and is studying me as carefully as he can. Yes, he's probably closest to being able to understand this.

"Almost every being has within them some contact with each of the lights. The network of strands which build up their nature, their desires. To make a lantern you must first learn to perceive them not as a series of strands but as the interface, the point at which the raw stuff of desire diffuses one way and the specificality of desire diffuses the other."

I don't look at anyone else. I'm simply going to use my own, and my conscious connection to the Honden as what I manifest. I hold out my hands, the faint wire frame outline of a lantern appearing and the point already 'tied' to the orange light glowing just a little brighter. The point just above the core is at once a solid position in the lantern's structure and my desire to avoid nullity. A part of the handle my desire for camaraderie. And on and on until the structure is essentially solid, shimmering as not completely 'real', but still there in a way a normal construct is not.

I managed that last time, though far more haphazardly than I'm doing now. But the bit I completely messed up is the bit that comes next: using the structure I've built to link the structure to the light itself, to the Honden itself.

From the incredibly specific to the non-specific. From me to all. And back again. The complexity of the individual and the vastness of the Honden.

It's shining, shimmering, being at once in the material universe and outside it as the points marked by my manifested desires alter the laws of reality just enough to make that possible. I take a few moments to look at it as it becomes self-sustaining and then fade back into the room.

Ring, time?

10th September 2012
15:29 GMT

Hm. Reasonable.

Xor's eyes are glowing while Onik is staring with an expression which… That's religious ecstasy, isn't it? Dul is ignoring it in favour of watching Lord Malvolio. I can't tell what he's thinking, but I do get a small respectful nod as I emerge more fully from my trance.

The personal lantern… Looks good. Better than my first effort, at least. I take my current personal lantern out of subspace and set them side by side on the deck.

Ring, how did I do?

No faults detected.

Ah. Well, Hinon's the expert and I'll have to have her give it a once-over, but I think I can be reasonably pleased with that.

Xor blinks, shaking his head.

"Illustres, I could not understand what you did."

"Lantern Dul?"

"My ring could see what you were doing with the construct power, but I couldn't get anything else."

"I see. Lantern Onik?"

"You made a personal lantern."

"Y-es, that-."

"You made a personal lantern you made a personal lantern you made a…"

"Lord Malvolio?"

"For how long have you wielded a ring?"

"A little over two years."

"I required decades of instruction afore I could do so much."

"Bonding with the Ophidian gave me perspective that most mortals lack. So for the rest of you, here's what I did."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
17:18 GMT

"Raagh!"

Lantern Dul snarls as her latest effort collapses in a flash of thwarted desire.

"Lantern Dul, I-."

Her body language goes through 'you have my full attention' and all the way to 'I'm about to swoop on you'.

"-set you this task as a training exercise. I don't actually expect you to be able to create a functioning lantern during our time together. And certainly not today. The purpose is to give you a better idea of how you're doing in your other exercises, one you can actually see."

Lord Malvolio looks mildly disquieted. I assume he doesn't understand why I'm allowing her to act up like this, rather than anything about what I've done or said contents-wise.

She nods, her anger leaving her swiftly. I wouldn't say that she's 'mastered' her anger or anything like that, but she has gotten better at defeating it with rationality.

"I'll keep working on it. I don't think that I'll be able to make my own lantern in the foreseeable future."

"Lantern Dul, I'm a freak who got lucky with the Ophidian. Don't measure yourself against me." I nod my head in the direction of Xor and Onik. Onik has a wire frame lantern he's been staring at for over an hour, while Xor's eyes are closed as he meditates. "They're the ones you can meaningfully measure yourself against."

"Yes, Illustres."

She fluffs her wings before floating into the air in a meditative pose.

"Your technique is at odds with what I used to create mine own lantern."

I nod. "It would be. There is probably more than one way to make one, and in any case we're using different colours. And there's probably some unifying factor that explains and predicts the techniques that can be made to work…"

I shrug.

"I'm not the person to ask about that, though."

"As I have issued my challenge to the Guardians' control of the power of will, I see little chance that they will illuminate me."

"There might be an unaligned Maltusian -or even a Controller- who would be willing to share their knowledge. But that sort of person would want a major concession."

"A concession I am not minded to give."

"There are Qwardians with the required knowledge. They take cash, but I think that someone might have already bought them."

"Who would consort with such a people?"

"Thaal Sinestro. Have you heard of him?"

"I have not."

"A former Green Lantern, who preferred order to beneficence. He was judged to have broken Corps regulation by how he repressed his own people, so the Guardians sentenced him to exile. Then there's a period where we don't really know what happened, then he was back with a yellow power ring. That one runs off his mastery of fear: his knowledge of his own fears and his ability to inspire fear in his opponents. And he appears to be recruiting."

"It seems that there is much that I do not know. What is his end?"

I shrug. "Pass. At a guess, establishing oppressive order through fear because he can't stand people doing things that he didn't authorise, but I haven't had a conversation with him. Ah, and since he's been assassinating Green Lanterns, if you plan on drawing any of them away from the Guardians, I wouldn't recommend having anything to do with him."

"And if I am not?"

"I don't know his motives well enough to advise you. I had a look at your law books while I was in your prison system and I didn't find anything I found especially objectionable. You centralised power to a degree I consider impractical, but you're already working to fix that. Individual citizens had a degree of personal liberty I consider reasonable. Last time Sinestro ruled a planet, his people didn't get that."

I shrug.

"Perhaps he's changed since then. Perhaps not. I don't know."

"You have not sought him out yourself?"

"I've already got one big war to contend with. I could alienate friends and allies by just talking to him. Dox did, but I've made a point of not asking him what they talked about."

"For what reason?"

"Plausible deniability. It sounds a lot more convincing if I can say 'I haven't had any conversations with Sinestro' than 'I've spoken to Sinestro but we didn't talk about that specific thing'."

"I am puzzled. You seemed to be of what you yourself described as utilitarian character. From what little you have said of Sinestro, it seems to me that your foes would most likely be his as well. Wherefore then have you not made common cause?"

"Because of what comes next. Sure, Sinestro could grab a bunch of fearmongers and wage war with the Reach, and that may help us. But someday the war will be over. And then we'll have to deal with him, the region of space he commands and his army of veteran Lanterns. Based on what he did with his own world when he controlled it, his views on the best form of life and mine are irreconcilable."

"May a man not amend his mind?"

"He could, but the Green Lantern Corps probably expect him to serve a sentence for his crimes against them before they'll be happy for him to play a role in galactic politics. I'd be creating a problem in my relations with them as well as creating a problem for later. And… Speaking of relations with the Green Lantern Corps… What exactly do you want?"

He holds up his right hand, green flames flickering and then billowing, dripping onto the deck before dissipating.

"Three centuries they imprisoned me. Three centuries I railed against their arrogance in believing that they knew best. Then I gained my freedom, and saw the havoc my absence had wrought. Their fault in keeping me from my subjects. But though it galls me to admit-"

He clenches his hand into a fist, suffocating the flames.

"-it, mine as well. It is a poor teacher who cripples his students' minds that he may never be surpassed. So I have resolved thusly: I have just grievances against the Guardians, but they are no mortal insult. I will not regard Green Lanterns I encounter as my enemies, saving that they act against me. Neither shall I seek any retribution against their masters. But I will stretch forth my hand, and they may take that as they will."

"That's surprisingly reasonable. Would you object to a senior Green Lantern approaching you directly, to discuss things in detail?"

"None. Though it may be best if they are skilled in the arts of diplomacy. Thus far I have met three Corpsmen and fought all three."

"I'll bear that in mind. So what progress have you made on forging rings?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
10:32 GMT -7

Niko Parish flexes her wings self-consciously.

"Grayven… I wouldn't… Even know where to start. I'm… An atheist."

I smile. "I'll try not to take that personally."

"I know.. you exist, that's not-." She awkwardly rubs her left forearm with her right hand. The newly restored flesh is paler than the rest of her body, angel flesh apparently immune to the Nevada sun. "Not what I meant. I don't think I can call up the power of God just because you got me new wings."

"That's a surprisingly reverential attitude for someone who doesn't believe. Niko, literally no one -very much including me- should have the power that I now have, and if you can't fix this I have to talk to Metron and I really don't want to have to do that."

Another wing-fluff. "Is God actually..?"

"Anything like the version that exists in modern Christian mythology? No, no, not really. Did you see that interview I did about the Source Wall?"

"I've watched it. It just… I can't connect that with…"

She lifts her right hand off her arm and points at her left wing.

"Ah. Well, I don't have anything like the level of knowledge that would be required to give you an answer. The best I can do is to say that whatever intelligence is 'guiding' the universe doesn't directly intervene. And doesn't appear to indirectly intervene in a way that couldn't easily be something else."

"So what does that make you?"

"Sufficient power can change the universe just by being. For all I know my distant ancestors had some weird metabolic quirk which causes them to parasitise on the Wall itself. Or we were created by the last species that worked out how to do that; our historical records aren't great."

And she's gone back to rubbing her arm.

"How are you managing?"

"Being able to climb ladders is nice."

She turns away, walking over to the external window. Rebuilding work is still going on throughout Aberrance's industrial areas, and the view from this portacabin with aspirations above its station is nothing like what it was from her old office in the now-demolished Uncorporation building. Other than the building sites, the most obvious change is the significantly increased military presence. Soldiers in light power armour guard military engineers as they perform a full decontamination of the underground tunnels and then convert them into utility tunnels and subways. A project Magnificus has been working on; his father had some sort of radiation absorbing technology he was sitting on, and this is affording us the opportunity to demonstrate its utility. The power armour is Sam's, as he finally beat enough heads together to take control of the seventeen separate power armour development projects the various tendrils of the US government had in progress and told the people involved that he'd prosecute them all for fraud if they didn't come up with something for deployment.

It's not terrible. It outperforms that bipedal pile of scrap the Russians think is power armour by a lot and is only about a hundred times as expensive. And when you've actually got a Colonel whose name is 'Perseus Hazard', you may as well use him for something thematically appropriate. The input from my people is limited to the warding, which… Not exactly true to my 'hand up not handout' principles, but it's going to be a long time before they can have magicians assigned on a squad basis.

"Security has to keep tossing crazies off the lot. More than normal."

"So when can we expect you to give birth to Jesus?"

"That's not as funny as you think." She freezes up for a second. "Ah."

She looks-.

"No."

"OhthankGod."

"I mean, it's not impossible that any child you had would have a natural insight into theurgy, but they wouldn't be a prophesised saviour of any sort, and they're no more likely to be a reincarnation of someone than anyone else."

"I'd get my tubes tied, but I think the wings would just heal them."

I grin. "You-".

No, no, this isn't the time for a Themyscira reference.

"I didn't mean how are the un-men doing. They survived one crazy wizard, they'll survive another one. How is Niko Parish doing?"

"I'm fine. Physically I'm better than ever. And somehow-" She holds her forearms up slightly so that she can compare them. "-the fact that my blood is silver hasn't changed anything. It-. I was worried it might take out my un-man tissue, but that's all still there."

"I thought that Cranius rewired part of your nervous system to enable you to control your wings."

"He did, and the new nerves he put in are still there. They just go somewhere else now. Did you find out why I picked-" She clenches and then unclenches her left hand. "-this arm to get rid of?"

"Yellow ring picked up a traumatic memory, but I didn't take a closer look."

"I fixated on the arm as being what was wrong, pushing every feeling I had about everything else-. Putting that on the arm. When Cranius said I'd have to get rid of something I told him right away, 'cut if off'. I told myself I was getting rid of everything wrong with my old life along with it. But-. Well, it's not like nothing changed, but I was still the same woman. But with new friends and a pair of wings that didn't work properly."

"But the problem wasn't the arm."

"No, but I got really good at repressing."

I nod slowly. "As I said, anything you want to talk to me about will be treated in complete confidence."

"That's the thing, though." She puts her arms down, making a dismissive gesture with her newly acquired left hand. "I've had years of living a good life. Once I got over the shock of you knowing, I realised… I hadn't thought about it for a… Long time. It didn't control me."

"Good, I'm pleased for you." I nod. "Is there anyone you would like me to arrange a meeting with?"

"Yes. The FBI agent responsible for the investigation into Mitchell Byrne's murder."

"I can set that up. So…" I point at her pale left hand. "No problem with that at all?"

"Cranius wants me to wear jackets with the left sleeve in a different colour, and I'm having trouble picking out nail polish that goes with my skin tone. And The Face is calling it my 'ghost hand'."

"I can guess the context. Do you want to talk to anyone about using magic?"

"I probably should. You don't have any other angel body parts laying around, do you?"

I briefly recall that John Constantine's shed contained a barrel marked 'angel semen'.

"Alas, no, though if that changes I'll be certain to let Cranius know." Ah… "Look, I appreciate that you don't know how to use your arcane abilities yet, but I really don't want to have to talk to Metron, so-."

"Isn't that..? God's messenger?"

"No, that's the Metatron. Metron is a New God. Not sure whether he was from Apokolips or New Genesis originally, though given how he behaves I'd guess Apokolips. He's an explorer and scientist with no morals at all and a bad habit of stealing credit for other people's work. On the face of it he shouldn't have any problem taking a portion of the Omega Force off my hands just because he's never had an opportunity to study it before. He'd take the colour green off someone's hands if he got to dissect it afterwards. But he's such an arsehole about everything."

Niko nods, walks up to me, then lays her left hand on my forehead.

…

"No, sorry." She withdraws her hands and smiles apologetically. "Nothing happening. How about I pack you some aspirin?"

"Pack me the whole willow. I'm going to need it."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:22 GMT

Lord Malvolio holds his third ring-blank in his left hand as it slowly evaporates.

"And so it ever is. See you anything awry in my process?"

I shake my head slowly.

"No, but I only saw a small part of what you did. You… Your green glow is so bright that it's difficult for me to see what you're doing in any detail."

I barely remember what the process for forging a ring was in the comics, just… Ganthet scowling and treating the whole thing like forging a ring with metal. I assume that it was a limitation of the medium, but… Kalmin uses equipment to handle it as well. Maybe it's something that can't be handled by a person just with their connection to the relevant colour.

I could ask Hinon, or one of the other Controllers who've been forging rings for the Corps. Except that the techniques they use might not work for me, and that would implicate them in the whole 'helping Lord Malvolio' thing.

Would someone from 17th century Manchester actually have been called 'Malvolio'? It's a possibility, Shakespeare's plays would have been in circulation if that's where his mother got it from. Given how he was puzzled by me not wanting to give the other Lanterns' names, it certainly seems plausible.

If his parents wanted a joker, well… I imagine that they'd be surprised by how he turned out.

"I suppose… Maybe they shouldn't be created as separate units, but paired with particular lanterns. Do you have a normal sized personal lantern?"

"Nay. Priest was of the opinion that personal lanterns are a crutch best avoided."

I blink.

"What?"

"He instructed me that they were an unnecessary crutch, much as a man who has lived a life free from sin has no need of indulgences."

"So… You… Don't need to recharge your ring?"

"I do not. I see that you are surprised."

"Surprised that it's possible, and surprised that you got the hang of it back in the seventeenth century."

"What does the age matter to the nature of a man's soul?"

"Fair point. I just meant that you wouldn't have had all that much time to get the hang of it before running out of power."

"Priest reinvigorated my ring when its fires began to ebb. His tutelage is why my domains are an entire Sector and not merely limited to the Earth, and the memory of the time where we worked together is why I refuse to slay him for his later treachery."

"How long did it take you to learn?"

"I do not know. We were far from the star of Earth, and the training was too exhausting for me to keep track of the passage of days." He regards me with curiosity. "You mean to say that you have always recharged from your lantern?"

"Yes. Except for the time I was bonded to the Ophidian, but I assumed… The part of us that was her was handling that."

"Priest warned me that it might take longer than a normal man's mortal span to learn the required techniques. Even now he questions my mastery."

"Did he ever make a central power battery?"

Lord Malvolio actually smiles.

"Methinks that he would condescend even unto the Guardians for their reliance on such fripperies. No, he did not."

"Modern Earth has a saying: perfect is the greatest enemy of good enough. One powerful Lantern, however impressive, just won't achieve as much as a dozen who need personal lanterns. I don't think that the Guardians would intentionally cripple their Lanterns, so there must be something else going on."

"A man may oil and sharpen his sword without caring a whit for its wellbeing."

"Yes, but it's still sharp and free from rust at the end of that. 'You can recharge without a personal lantern' is just… Too big a deal."

"I think there is more to the affair on their part, but in truth I do not know them well enough to be sure in my condemnation."

They did have Guy researching high complexity techniques… But I'm focusing on ring crafting at the moment, and I'd rather get a cooperation agreement in place before asking Guy to talk to the man who punched Jordan through a planet. Guy loves the Green Lantern Corps, and I can't see that conversation going well.

"Okay, so you've never tried forging a ring using a personal lantern?"

"Having none, I have not."

"I'll give it a go then." I float my newly created personal lantern up to me. "Please don't mess me about when I transubstantiate."

"Continue at your leisure."

Okay then. I don't step out, but rather hold up the lantern in my left hand and press my right hand against the spout part.

Rings are a focus of the desires of their users, but… I don't think anyone wants a ring purely to have the ring. I mean, in some places it's a status symbol, but what they want is the status. Others want all sorts of outcomes…

Are there any ring-shaped desires in here? Preferably marked with the orange sigil? I can search for desires relating to control and creation and shape them, but I've got no more reason to believe that will work than…

Anything else I could try, so I may as well try it as well, I suppose.

The Honden is now richly decorated in ring-adjacent desires, and I regularly check them to make sure that no one in my Corps is heading for crazy town.

Ring-adjacent…

Do rings have spirits? Are ring AIs spirits? I wasn't joking about thinking that I might end up coming here full time once I die properly, so I suppose…

Is there anything here that doesn't fit?

Yes, my Agent.

Other than you, you beautiful snake you.

Yes, my Agent. Here.

Oh. That's…

Interesting.

I withdraw my right hand, a ring around my right ring finger.

"You have managed the feat? How?"

"I don't think I have." I take a closer look at the ring. Simple design, no additional AI… "This is Larfleeze's ring. It was destroyed when I… Died. Completely disintegrated by qwa-matter. It-."

Malvolio's head jerks up, and his face twists into a snarl.

"Your pardon, Lord Illustres, but it seems that I must return home. Some fool has tried to release mine most contentious prisoner."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:27 GMT

"Lanterns dismissed, Lord Malvolio, thank you, you've been a most courteous host and I'll be happy to entertain you if you're ever near Earth or-"

I grab and subspace my personal lanterns.

"-Maltus, excuse me."

I step out, the desire to be ruled by Lord Malvolio

being somewhat distinctive and limited to one region.

"Illustres to WHATEVER IDIOT JUST DECIDED TO PICK A FIGHT WITH LORD MALVOLIO I HOPE YOUR LIFE INSURANCE IS UP TO DATE."

Right, I got a reasonable map update last time I was in the area, though I've got no idea where Priest was hiding out or what changes have happened since. Ships… They're not posing near their internal borders any longer, but patrolling the entire region as a unified navy.

He's really brought the region together.

The void that there used to be around the system he was imprisoned in is gone, but I'm detecting something not too different around… Oh, that's a bit mean. A desolate system whose most interesting feature is what appeared when I scanned it to be the remains of a broken-up super-Earth. Now there's a huge green barrier around the whole thing that looks like it's on fire.

Ring, find me whoever it is that's taking the piss.

"Urine-extractors found."

And of course it's a squad of Green Lanterns.

"I know you people received my first message. Lord Malvolio knows that you're here and he's heading back."

Two I don't recognise. One is a standard pattern humanoid male who has somehow combined a Mohican with a pony tail. There's a treeman along with Apros and…

Of course they sent him.

"Guy Gardner pick up your gosh darn ring."

In the distance I see Guy look around, though the light I'm emitting won't reach him for days and my tattoos will prevent his ring picking me up.

Then his face appears over my ring.

"Hey Paul. What's up?"

"I was having a pleasant conversation with Lord Malvolio, learning all about his future plans and how he can make Central Power Batteries, and then he got a message that someone was trying to burgle him."

"This ain't a burglary. It's a prison break."

"Guy, Lord Malvolio heard about this when I did. He's heading back now."

"And?"

"And he punched Jordan through one side of a planet and out of the other. He can make Central Power Batteries."

"Can he make crumblers?"

"His ring doesn't have AI support, so probably not. On the other hand he definitely can lock you in an inescapable prison the size of a star system."

"You got out."

"Priest -the man you're trying to gaol-break- built that prison. Lord Malvolio built the one now imprisoning him."

"So?"

"And that's assuming that he doesn't flat out kill you."

"He couldn't kill Lantern Priest."

"He decided not to kill Lantern Priest because he owed him and felt grateful that Priest didn't leave him in Salford to work out the ring for himself. Guy, has the Green Lantern Corps attempted diplomacy?"

"We can try that ahftah we've got our guy back."

"No, no you can't, because that's the Green Lantern Corps announcing that they don't care about borders or cooperation agreements and are fine with declaring war on an entire Sector."

"Just Malvolio."

"Do you know what his popularity rating around here is?"

"I dunno. Like, five percent or som-."

"More like ninety five. Maybe higher."

"Sinestro had 'bowt a hundred percent. Right up 'til Hal kicked his keister."

"Sinestro had maybe thirty percent and controlled all media. I'm an empath. You think I can't see how many people want Malvolio ruling them?"

Guy sighs.

"Wha'd'yah want me t'do, Paul?"

"Approach Lord Malvolio directly and negotiate for Priest's release."

"You saying we should trade fer him?"

"Lord Malvolio ruled this Sector when Priest trapped him. I'm fairly sure that's a crime. The Guardians didn't send a team to break Jordan out of prison when he got locked up for drunk driving, did they?"

"That ain't tha same thing."

"Okay, what's the difference?"

"Hal didn't murder a Green Lantern first."

"Lord Malvolio says that he thought the man was a demon. And given when he did it, that's a pretty credible explanation. And it was four hundred years ago. And it's not like the Green Lantern Corps hasn't recruited people who've killed -and eaten- other Lanterns before."

"I didn't hire Chummuck, but Chummuck's got with the program. He didn't conquer a Sector an' he didn't murder anyone. And I don't negotiate with terrorists."

"The Green Lantern Corps on the other hand negotiated with the Psions, the Reach, Larfleeze, the Manhunters and me when I was joined with the Ophidian. Could you not at least try talking to him before starting a war?"

"Paul, it-." Guy pauses, and looks at me quizzically. "You sayin' you ain't on our side?"

"If Lord Malvolio declares war on the Green Lantern Corps, the Orange Lantern Corps would be neutral. If you're out of action but not killed I'd evacuate you without your ring, but that's-"

"Oh, thanks."

"-all I can do. Compared to what the Reach or the Spider Guild do every day, Malvolio ruling One Six Three Four is a non-iss-."

"Warning! Will detected!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:31 GMT

"-ue."

Green fire billows in the void, swelling into the shape… Of a fortified gate, heavy wood with iron reinforcement.

"Alright, heads up guys. Chief asshole incoming."

The other Green Lanterns turn away from the barrier, forming shield constructs.

"Guy, he punched Jordan through a planet."

Guy and Apros form multi-layered construct armour around themselves while the other two spread out into flanking positions.

"You feel like helpin' out, that's great."

"I feel like slapping you upside the head, you… Dummy."

Which if you're from 'Baldamore', serves both as a term of endearment and an insult. Which from Guy's smile, he knows that I know.

"Ayo, you do care."

"I'll try to make sure that you don't die if you agree to do the same."

"Hand on heart: I'll make sure I don't die too."

Which is actually what I want him to say.

"Illustres out."

Another surge of green flame and the door is thrown open. Something… I can't quite make sense of the flash of… Something beyond the door, but I see it clearly when Lord Malvolio storms out, the green fire surrounding the door appearing to stick to him.

"What scurrilous yaldson dares to intrude upon mine domain?"

Technically inaccurate, though I doubt that Guy would complain, true or false.

"To arms!"

And I immediately detect the closest fleets turn in our direction, while those a little further away change direction-. They're getting in position to intercept if the local Green Lanterns flee.

I fly towards Malvolio-. Is he going to have ring communications? I remember that Alan did, but that it had all sorts of technical problems. Try it; it's not like I can shout from here.

"Illustres to Lord Malvolio. Please respond."

I talked about it with Alan once, what it was like to try flying long distance in space without an AI. Apparently he and Doctor Knight went to the moon once, but when the two of them discussed the astrophysics of the system they both decided against trying to fly to Mars. No AI meant he'd have to rely on a construct telescope to see the object he was flying towards. No AI meant no speedometer. He could accelerate far harder than any rocket ship but FTL was a struggle requiring him to bend space manually with a full understanding of exactly what he was doing to spacetime. Essentially, he decided that it wasn't worth it.

Malvolio clearly has no such problem. Though I don't know where the door came from.

"Illustres to-."

He looks directly at me, and I raise my right hand in an awkward wave, slowing my travel as I do so.

"The manner of your leave-taking left a little to be desired."

"Sorry, but I felt that getting here ahead of you gave me the best chance of preventing bloodshed."

"And how fare you?"

"I haven't necessarily been entirely successful. But if you could give me a little more time-"

The door doesn't fade so much as get sucked into his flaming aura.

"-I'm reasonably hopeful that I can talk them down."

"Have they made aught progress in their maleficent designs?"

"Not as far as I could see."

"Then we shall see if my steel fares better than your honey."

The glow intensifies and he's gone, flying towards Guy at extremely fast sublight speed.

No. No. No…

"Illustres to Gardner. Look, you can probably get out before he reaches you if you make an effort."

"He know how to block Crumbler shots?"

"Ah, I haven't told him, but I can't guarantee-."

"This is th' job, Paul. Stand back and watch us kick his ass. Or you can always say-"

I watch him generate a minigun construct just big enough for crumbler ammunition.

"-you told me so."

Guy strikes a pose and opens fire, my ring tracking the trajectory of his shots. Malvolio sends forth a gout of green flame, causing the sophisticated anti-construct rounds to be destroyed without activating.

"Ah, sh-."

The ring communication cuts out as the fight takes all of his attention.

Apros is hanging back a little, his preferred avenue of attack being telepathy. Neither Malvolio nor his constructs seem perturbed, but Apros is able to space swim around Malvolio's burning beams.

Oh, for goodness' sake.

I don't want to attack either party. I want this to stop, preferably before anyone-

Having trained with me, Guy's much better at dodging Lord Malvolio's punches than Jordan was. He's having trouble, though. He should really have disengaged by now; that's standard protocol for Lanterns fighting super strong opponents.

-dies. What should I do?

Malvolio manages a glancing blow and Guy goes spinning through the void, construct armour exploding outward from where Malvolio's fist hit it. Ablative armour is great against crumblers, but not anything like as good for more simple attacks. Guy recreates his armour as I try and work out what he's doing. Is he intentionally tanking? That-.

Guy's a little slow recovering and this time takes a punch to the chest. He hurtles towards the barrier imprisoning Priest while Lord Malvolio goes in for a follow up attack.

Apros intercepts him, his construct tentacles being incinerated almost as quickly as they're being made.

I need to stop-.

I fly towards the barrier as the two Lanterns I don't recognise pelt Lord Malvolio with green bolts of energy, which as far as I can tell doesn't even distract him as he stops burning the tentacles and starts pulling them towards himself.

Okay, barrier, barrier.

I unfocus, searching inside for-. Ah, it's not decontaminated. We can feel the desires of those who were on the other side, and something of the patterns of their lives. We transubstantiate, flying along the corridors until we are where they were. And then we appear-.

"Oh dear. This really wasn't necessary."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:34 GMT

A wall of rock projects upwards four thousand kilometres from the shattered planet's cold outer core and gosh I love seeing sites like this. Krypton's fragments glittered but there's something… Some sense of absoluteness of a rock face that couldn't exist on any surface just being here. The mind can scarcely comprehend it; I'm having to shake my head as my brain tries to tell me that it is a floor and not a wall. And there's no atmosphere and no horizon so I can see until the end of it.

I need to bring Jade somewhere like this. I don't know if she'll appreciate it in the way that I do-.

"You were the one who released Malvolio, were you not?"

I tear my eyes from the vertiginous vista and drop them to Lantern Priest himself. He's hairless, red-skinned and wears a simple white robe which leaves his arms bare. His arms are long enough that his hands rest on the ground when he's standing upright, and the only protective clothing he's wearing are the two large bracers which cover both his forearms and the backs of his hands. A gold coloured plate covers his head from the middle of his forehead over the top of his head and back to the base of his skull. A pale yellow force field protects him from the environment and his eyes are sheer black ovals set diagonally into his face.

"Yes, that's me. Pleased to meet you in person."

"You are more interesting in person. Why are you here?"

"Some Green Lanterns decided to break you out. Lord Malvolio is fighting them now. I tried to encourage them to negotiate, but neither were particularly interested."

"I had thought that Malvolio was beyond such pettiness by now."

"Exactly what sort of pettiness are you referring to?"

"Using violence as his first recourse."

"I'm.. not sure that that's what he did. He went to Karax to learn more about the Green Lanterns, and I had a lengthy talk with him about Lanterning in general before Green Lantern Guy Gardner tripped the alert."

"Another human?"

"Oh. Right. Yes, we're off the 'Do Not Recruit' list. A Green Lantern called Abin Sur needed a replacement desperately while he was on Earth, and since Lantern Jordan turned out alright the Guardians okayed the rest of us."

"He did not demonstrate Malvolio's superlative abilities?"

"No. Guy's better, but none of them are Lord Malvolio. My friend Alan's a little closer, but he uses a blue ring these days."

"Ah, Earth."

"We get that a lot. Look… Do you mind being here?"

"Compared to what?"

"Any other location that we could negotiate."

"Now that I am freed from the need to confine Malvolio, I have the opportunity to continue my own studies of the green light of will. My only concern is what Malvolio is doing without my oversight. When he controlled this region he made himself the focus of-."

"Of their entire society and they couldn't function without him. He knows, and he wants to fix that this time."

Priest reaches up to stroke his chin with his right hand.

"That surprises me. I had thought him too inflexible to consider modifying his approach. Perhaps in a few centuries he might truly understand the green light."

"Right, but what about you?"

"It… Might be interesting to see what Malvolio does with his freedom."

"Last time we spoke, you told me that his will was crowding out the will of everyone else."

"That is not limited to Malvolio. The confident can inspire others to follow their example through their certainty. Life is full of things that inspire uncertainty, and it is a natural response to find this state uncomfortable."

I nod.

"'Make me an autocrat and I'll solve your problems without any of that confusing 'free will' business.' I'm familiar with the idea."

"His command of the green light takes him beyond the abilities of mundane tyrants."

"The conclusion then being that strong Lanterns should avoid other people so they don't contaminate their thought processes?" I shake my head. "That's not a viable solution, even if the effect is as strong as you're implying. Look, what sort of assurance that he's improving do you want?"

"'Do I want' in order to achieve what end?"

"To tell the visiting Greenies that you don't want to be rescued so that I can talk them into standing down so that neither they nor Lord Malvolio die."

"Have the Guardians renewed their sentence of death?"

I frown. "I'm… Not exactly the first person they'd tell-." Wait. He wouldn't-. "I don't work for the Guardians."

"Then where did you get that ring?"

Because he's been stuck in this Sector for hundreds of years and so hasn't heard anything about the Orange Lantern Corps. He probably hasn't heard of Sinestro and the fact that Qwardians can make power rings.

"I'd be happy to fully brief you later, but a friend and an ally of mine are trying to kill each other now."

"I was willing to leave the Corps rather than kill Malvolio when I last received that order. The fact that he has moderated his position has not led me to change my mind for the worse."

"I-. You have conditions for your rescuers?"

"I am content to remain here. If they want me to leave, there are things they must do."

"Ah, okay?"

"Malvolio acts as he does due to his concern for the people of this region, not because he covets power for its own sake. I will not go anywhere without a peace treaty between his Sector and the Green Lantern Corps."

"And from Lord Malvolio?"

Priest hesitates, then looks upward at the burning green universe above us.

"A better view might be nice."

"Okay. I'll see what I can do. Excuse me."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:37 GMT

Following Guy's desires back is simple, though I'm careful to

leave enough of a gap that I'm not immediately caught up in the melee. Ships… Yes, they're not too far away now. Close enough that they could get closer and join in the fight if Malvolio wanted them to. I'd guess that he doesn't think they're powerful enough to do much against a Green Lantern of Guy's power.

Guy fires a construct-American football at Malvolio's momentarily exposed head as Apros explodes spatial charges all around him. Malvolio catches the ball without looking and uses the connection to Guy's ring to pull him closer. Guy tries to strengthen the link and toss him aside, but with a small grimace realises that he can't. A shotgun construct appears next to him and shoots the green link connecting him to the ball, the crumbler round severing the link and allowing him to evade Malvolio's volley. Apros makes more mine constructs and does something to cause them to shrink before sending them in Malvolio's direction of travel.

Where are the other t-? Oh. Mohawk-ponytail is collecting bits of treeman, who glows as he tries to reassemble himself. Okay, no one dead yet, I've got a chance.

"Illustres to closest blond Green Lantern."

"Lan-." His face appears above my ring, clearly somewhat distracted by the ally he's shielding while he reassembles his torso. "You. Did you get Priest?"

"I spoke to Priest, and he's not impressed about this. He wants to stay here and for you to leave."

"Why?"

"Because he thinks he can turn Malvolio into a better Sector Lantern, and because he doesn't think that his imprisonment is worth killing over."

I transition over to them, block an instinctual energy bolt and play a purple ray over the treeman's injury. It responds reasonably well, dead and dying wood coming back to life and growing back into the whole.

"Mind telling me your names?"

"Green Lantern Avir. Sorry."

I glance at him. "What for?"

"Lantern Vinkent." Treeman Vinkent checks his torso for damage, but finds nothing. "Thank you, but I must return-."

I stick a construct harness around him.

"No. I healed you. If you get back into the fight then I've picked a side. You're sidelined."

Avir raises his ring.

"That-."

"I wouldn't have been able to fight on."

"You could have your ring sub someone in, but around here that would probably result in it either going to someone who would support Malvolio, or to someone in your home Sector who wouldn't know what was going on."

Avir considers for a moment, glancing back to where the two Honour Guard Lanterns are sheltering under a shared shield as Malvolio bombards them with construct cannons.

"Fine."

He flies back towards the fight, fishing something out of his equipment harness as he does so.

"Right. Lantern Vinkent, please tell me exactly why you're here."

"To rescue former Lantern Priest and gain intelligence on Malvolio."

"And was that Guy's idea, or was he ordered to do it by the Guardians?"

"The Guardians-. He said they were okay with it."

So they didn't specifically order it, but given Guy I can't tell whether 'okay' means that they didn't protest or that they strongly advised it. Guy's not going to answer me while he's-

I'm mildly touched as I see that he's taken a leaf out of my book and switched to railguns with iron slugs.

-busy shooting his target. Who can tell me more? Whichever Guardian gave him his original orders and is presumably monitoring him a little more closely than they do most Green Lanterns, but I don't know which of them that is. No way to learn more, then. Who can tell Guy to knock it off? Illustres Chaselon, whoever the other Illustres is, Clarissi Salaak and any of the Guardians.

Who might actually take my call?

"Ring, contact Illustres Chaselon."

"Compliance."

I hadn't bothered with sorting out an official Corps to Corps point of contact because I know that any of the Earth Green Lanterns would answer me and two of them are Honour Guard Lanterns. But between him and Salaak-.

Chaselon's eyes appear above my ring. He doesn't say anything.

"Guy Gardner, Apros and Avir are presently fighting Lord Malvolio, ruler of Sector One Six Three Four. Are they supposed to be?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because I'd like them to stop and discuss their differences and not actually fight unless they were irreconcilable."

"What is your stake in who wins?"

"Ah, Guy's a friend of mine, and Malvolio has peacefully unified a Sector that had been at war with itself. Malvolio also has some non-standard ideas about what power rings can do that I'd like to study more myself."

He rotates away to look at something off-camera for a moment.

"Honour Guard Lantern Gardner's order to research esoteric Green Lantern abilities comes from the Guardians. I can't countermand it."

"Guardians or a Guardian?"

"I don't have access to that information. If the Guardians have disagreements, they resolve them in private."

"But if he hasn't specifically been ordered to fight or kill Malvolio?"

"Then he could be ordered to stop. But if a Guardian declines to make such an order, the rest will probably follow their lead and leave Lantern Gardner to it."

"I don't suppose you know which Guardian originally ordered Malvolio's death, do you?"

"No."

Ugh. Okay, it sounds like Chaselon is prepared to put me through to a Guardian. But that Guardian might want Malvolio dead or locked up. Or they might consider it to not be part of their range of responsibilities. That's why I'm not asking to be referred right to Apa Ali Apsa, who would probably find this Sector to be an interesting case study. Ganthet's usually Earth's go-to Guardian, but I know for a fact that he was also the one who backed Jordan's decision to remove Sinestro from office. Sayd, maybe? I don't have good records on the rest of the Guardians-.

"Ring, second channel. Message to Hinon. Need to stop Green Lantern fighting someone with weird green light powers before someone dies. Which Guardian do I ask? Send."

"Message sent. Response received. 'Guardian Broome Bon Baris'."

…

I suppose that you can't vivisect someone if they're dead…

"Chaselon, could you put me through to Guardian Broome Bon Baris? I'll try and get her to call Guy off."

"Try. Yes."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:40 GMT

I glance up as Chaselon vanishes from my ring. Malvolio appears to have decided to focus on Apros exclusively, and is currently creating a giant flaming box construct to hem him in. Guy is trying to break it using a construct heat shield around a bundle of crumblers, but while that works, Malvolio's construct doesn't flat out fail. Instead, the edges of the breach burn more viciously, extending the construct back over the hole.

"Illustres."

I immediately give Guardian Broome my full attention. The image of her head above my ring is actually larger than it was from my perspective when I met the Guardians in person. She looks old, and not in the slightly saggy way Hinon does. She's shrivelled, the skin stretched over her face and wattles sagging beneath her jaw where it hasn't adjusted to the gradual wasting of the flesh beneath. Her eyes are completely focused on me, unblinking and clearly communicating that this better be important.

"What is it?"

Don't explain who people are. She has access to all Green Lantern Corps records… Maybe not with a thought. Maybe without one, just… Knowing everything all of the time.

"Honour Guard Lanterns Gardner and Apros are fighting and losing to Lord Malvolio in an attempt to liberate former Lantern Priest. I would like you to order them to stop so that I can negotiate a peaceful settlement. Malvolio is the product of four centuries' exposure to the green light of will, and hence is an interesting case study into what might happen to Lantern Gardner. Or to Lantern Scott or myself. If he were unduly damaged, that opportunity would be lost. The deaths of the Green Lantern Corps members in system would be inconvenient if the fight did not go in their favour, especially as Gardner is the only living person to have bonded with Ion."

"They are presently engaged in combat. Will Malvolio simply allow them to leave?"

"I'm reasonably sure that I can create a temporary truce. Whether or not he will allow them to leave would probably depend on how the negotiations go. At worst, there'll be a brief pause in hostilities and the Corps will lose nothing."

"I expect copies of every report, and I would like Lantern Gardner involved."

"Not a problem."

She regards me for a couple of seconds, then her face vanishes.

"That's longer than I've spoken to a Guardian for since I joined the Corps."

"To be fair, there isn't much reason for a Sector Lantern to speak to a Guardian. And they're not exactly good-"

Lantern Apros is pushing hard against the box containing him and Lord Malvolio forces it smaller and smaller while fending off Guy with bolts of green light. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that he hasn't tried asking Ion for help yet, given the difficulty he's having.

"Illustres to Lord Malvolio. I have negotiated a ceasefire-"

Guy's ring shimmers as he weaves around Malvolio's shots, and he grimaces.

"-with the Guardians. Once Guy receives it, please break off until negotiations are over."

"What proof have I that they will break off when commanded?"

"I'm going to stick a really big orange shield between the belligerent parties, and will start fighting anyone who breaks the ceasefire before negotiations comprehensively fail."

Guy slows in space, his eyes going from his ring to Lord Malvolio and back again. Malvolio stares at Guy for a moment, then slowly dismisses the box around Apros. Avis darts in and appears to offer to assist, but Apros waves him away with a tentacle. Guy floats closer to the two of them so that he can more easily offer support.

Right then.

"Lantern Vinkent, please accompany me."

"Yes."

I fly towards the green-glowing Lanterns, Vinkent just behind me. I suppose that I don't really need to get closer, but it might help psychologically if the guarantor is right there.

Malvolio's flaming aura shrinks a little as I approach, which I'm taking as a positive sign.

"Gentlemen, thank you for-."

"Y'went t' tha Guardians."

Guy folds his arms across his chest and puts on his most mulish expression.

"I went to the Guardians because you're being a belligerent idiot. I'd hoped you'd got over this-"

"Oh this is not-"

"-impulse, but if you-"

"-tha same-"

"-need someone smacking some-"

"-thing at all, you-"

"-sense into you, then I'd-"

"-backstabbing, rank-pulling little sneak."

"-rather it be me or a Guardian rather than Malvolio."

Apros lays a tentacle on Guy's left shoulder while I turn to Lord Malvolio.

"Thank you for giving them -and me- a chance."

"I thought that you had betrayed me when you entered Priest's prison. I will have an explanation."

"Priest has lived a very long time. He wasn't much freer during your imprisonment than you were. Without knowing what he wanted, I couldn't know what to suggest for a resolution."

Apros moves his tentacles in a gesture indicating a polite request for attention.

"What did former Lantern Priest tell you?"

"In summary? Don't fight to free him, Malvolio's not that bad and being in prison for a while doesn't bother him."

"An' we gotta take your word fer that? You've been acting real friendly with…"

Guy nods at Malvolio.

"Yes, because I prefer to gain knowledge by peaceful discussion rather than breaking and entering. If you're implying that he's controlling my actions, you can ask the Ophidian if you like. Priest said that anyone who uses the emotional spectrum inevitably influences those around them in accordance with that emotion, so he's probably had some influence on all of us, but at this point-"

Of course.

"-he's probably having a bigger impact on you than on me, which is why you're acting up, because you can't reconcile his focus with yours."

"Huh? That's-." Guy frowns. "Yeah, that… Could happen. Gimme a sec."

Guy closes his eyes and draws his legs into a cross-legged pose. I feel… Something… I don't think he's exactly communing with Ion, but he's doing something he wasn't doing before.

"Right." He opens his eyes, and they're blank green orbs. "What're yah proposin'?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:44 GMT

"Do you have recruitment authority?"

"Not like you do, but if a Sector doesn't have a Lantern I could probably make it happen."

"Then here's what I propose. The Green Lantern Corps recognise Lord Malvolio's rule of Sector One Six Three Four. The Green Lantern Corps will agree not to enter the Sector without his authorisation or the authorisation of duly designated officials in the Sector's government. Permission to enter for a stated purpose does not give general permission to come in and do what they like."

"Thought you didn't like what we did with tha Reach?"

"It's not the same thing. Malvolio isn't carrying out genocidal purges amongst the species he rules. If a stellar nation who were managing their own affairs fine and not bothering their neighbours didn't want Green Lanterns in their territory, I wouldn't have a problem with that. That's part of why the Green Lantern Corps recruits locally rather than just assigning people from-."

"You intend to have Priest take up his duties once more."

"He's slightly upbeat about how you're responding to everything that's happened-."

"Three centuries of imprisonment while all that I had built turned to ash. There are fewer people in this Sector now than when I was imprisoned. Did you know that? Between the internecine wars and the collapse in trade, the population has shrunk. Their understanding of natural philosophy has stagnated. I lay this at his door."

"And I'm sympathetic. But you were personally trapped in a star system. If you'd never had that ring, you would have never left Earth. You probably wouldn't have left Europe. You were still more free than any other human of your era."

"But I knew that they were there and that I had a duty to them that I could not fulfil, because of him."

"He told me that he was ordered to kill you."

"He failed."

"No, as in, he was ordered to kill you and decided not to because it was immoral. He didn't want you running a Sector because he believed that would mean you trampling on the wills of those under you. When I spoke to him just now, he was genuinely interested by your plans for reform. I think that if you involved him, not only would you have input from one of the few beings around who know more about the green light than you do, but it would also get the Green Lantern Corps off your back. You might be able to fight Lantern Gardner and Lantern-"

"We coulda taken him."

"-Apros, but there are a great many Green Lanterns. And if the Guardians still have you marked for death, then one of them might eventually intervene personally. The most sensible thing for you to do is to make an accommodation. You grew up during the end period of the Thirty Years' War. You know the magnitude of misery that comes when rulers aren't prepared to negotiate with powerful neighbours, or accept less than they ideally want."

"I have never attacked a world under the guardianship of another Lantern. All that has transpired here is their doing."

I nod.

"Lantern Gardner, did you take the opportunity to review the state of the worlds in Lord Malvolio's domain?"

"Got an.. overview."

"Most likely prison locations and fleet-"

He winces slightly.

"-bases?"

"… Yeah."

"Lantern Apros, I'm not familiar with your species. Can you assimilate data faster than humanoids, about as fast, or slower?"

"I have a superhumanoid grasp of three dimensional navigation. I am not an economist."

"Okay, so are you asking for time to review the history and economics of this Sector so that you can tell whether or not Lord Malvolio is doing a good job? You'd need to study a five hundred year period in detail covering… What was it, seven principal worlds plus colonies and outposts? Does the Green Lantern Corps have that expertise?"

"Probably. Or we can hire people."

"Lord Malvolio, would you object to an external group without power rings conducting a review of your domain's economic systems? The results might be helpful to you as well as convincing your critics in the Green Lantern Corps that you're good for the place."

"I do not plan to blockade peaceful travellers. If scholars wish to investigate mine realm as the authors of the Domesday Book did the domain of King William, then it vexes me not."

"Lantern Gardner?"

"So we're deciding who's good and bad by committee?"

"Since there's no mutually agreed upon set of rules, that's what you're left with. I've reviewed Two Eight One Four A's records on Green Lanterns removing rulers, and they usually only do it if they're atrocious and there's an alternate rightful candidate within that civilisation's own culture."

"If he-." Guy stops himself and then faces Malvolio instead. "If you're such a great guy, why don't you just join the Corps?"

"Put myself under the command of those who sentenced me to death? Are you that much a fool?"

"Has that actually been rescinded?"

Guy shrugs.

"I didn't find any record of it ever bein' made. Ain't a lot on Mally."

"But you understand why someone might not want to join an organisation run by beings who sentenced him to death without trial? Or even formal accusation?"

"What if it was rescinded?"

"Why are you pursuing this fruitless line of reasoning? I might understand a man making an error of judgement, but these Guardians will admit to no such error. If they gave me an explanation and asked my pardon I might -after a time- find it in myself to grant it."

"But if we could come back to the task at hand..?"

"You really gunna let Priest go free jus' 'cause we asked?"

"I was concerned that I may need to crush the Green Lantern Corps in its entirety before I could find peace from its depredations. If I have the sworn word of your masters that all I must do is release one man whom I may keep under close observation, then I will bear down on mine own desire for vengeance."

"And you don't mind him having a ring?"

"I am not convinced that he needs one. No, if that is the price of peace then I will pay it."

"Lantern Gardner?"

"Priest gets out and gets a ring. You stay on 'til we can work out whether you're good or bad. Can Priest go places without you?"

"No, but he may send messages where he will."

"Then I think we got a deal."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
18:50 GMT

Priest nods.

"How long is it that your species naturally lives?"

"Assuming that we don't die of disease or violence, our bodies usually start to get a bit ropey in our ninth decade. Though some humans make it into their thirteenth decade naturally and a rare few have found ways to extend their lives for millennia. The oldest I'm aware of is a man named Vandal Savage, who is about forty eight thousand years old."

"I think that Earth will be a fascinating place to study. Please keep it whole until my time with Malvolio reaches its end."

No promises.

"So you accept the deal?"

"For now. I will stay with Malvolio for a time, and then we can reconsider-. How old are you?"

I shake my head.

"Don't worry about it. I don't age, and I've twice gotten better from dying."

"Then return here in two hundred Earth years, and I will decide whether I want to renegotiate or not."

"Will do. Excuse me."

Things feel a little calmer outside, though Guy and Malvolio aren't particularly easy to feel out. Apros, Avir and Vinkent are easy enough to feel, and the desires of Apros and Vinkent are divergent enough from humanoid norms that

locating them is fairly easy.

"He said yes."

"'kay." Guy doesn't look entirely happy, but at least he's gotten his moodiness under control. "Your turn, Mally."

Lord Malvolio doesn't react to the abbreviation. Instead, he raises his hands and-.

Oh my.

Enough green flame to envelop an entire star system flies through the void for my second awe-inspiring sight of the day, Malvolio pulling it into his hands with no apparent effort.

I float a little closer to Guy.

"I've never done anything that big. You?"

"Me either."

"Good to know we've got someone to look up to."

"Think I'll wait 'til we've got that report."

"We can probably get away with doing a quick tour before we leave, if you like. See all the concentration camps that aren't there, that sort of thing."

"I mostly wanna talk to Priest. He was supposed to be this incredible mystic, I wanna see what he can do."

"Lord Malvolio isn't too bad."

Guy and I watch as the last of the green flame enters Malvolio, the star reappearing in the far distance. Or rather, it will in a few minutes once the light reaches us.

"Yeah."

"So what's the procedure for requisitioning a ring? I ask because I don't think that Priest had any way to reach us that wouldn't involve him flying at sublight speed for a few years."

"It's on its way."

I rotate in the approximate direction of Oa.

"So how did the Guardians feel about getting him back?"

"Ah… I don't think Appa realised he ever left."

"Oh."

"Think they were playing chess or somethin'. Said he was waiting fer Priest's next move."

"Well… On the positive side, that makes two Guardians who will probably be okay with this. Is that ring getting here soon, or should-."

"Will detected."

"Oh, good."

Priest appears, arms hanging down as he floats a short distance from Lord Malvolio. He's swapped his white robe for a green variant with the Green Lantern sigil described in black on the chest.

"Lord Malvolio."

"Priest. How fare you?"

"It was restful. I understand that you plan on making some changes."

"My absence enforced by your hand caused the people of this region great hardship. It is fitting that you will watch me raise them up once more, that you may contemplate your misjudgement."

"I will look forward to being proven wrong."

"We will retire to mine seat, that we may discuss how you will work under me. Illustres, escort these other Lanterns from my Sector."

"Of course. Gentlemen?"

Four green rings glow as I set course for one of the Dreadnaughts' colony worlds. One that was repeatedly attacked during the decades of war and remained heavily fortified and underdeveloped during the peace.

And warp.

Guy's right behind me.

"Paul, what tha fuck jus' happened?"

"You appear to have had an attack of the knuckleheads, Guy. Malvolio's not Sinestro."

"'re we jus' forgetting about the Sheeda?"

"He didn't know, Guy. He had no idea who they were or what they'd done."

"So if Barry hadn't gone nuts, he'd'ah handed them ovah?"

"He didn't say. But you'll note a complete lack of bondage elves in this Sector, and Barry didn't kill all of them."

"Hn."

"You planning on ram raiding anywhere else?"

"Priest isn't just some old Lantern who quit. He was tha last guy t' host Ion. The Corps needs him, an' so do I."

"Well, now you can share with Malvolio. Priest isn't going anywhere. And maybe you can learn from Malvolio, too."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
13:22 GMT -7

Huh.

Look at that. Finally got the laurel wreath.

I continue staring my the reflection of my own left haunch as I consider the implication. Is it.. because my rule is unchallenged? Because I don't have a rival? Because I'm the only Grayven? Or is it something to do with the mirror; is it interpreting my nature differently? Potentially differently each time, if the change in mental processes is different enough?

Perhaps more pertinently, is Luna going-

"Are you concerned that you are gaining weight, our swain?"

-to have an episode? I remember that Littlepip had an episode when she got shot in the cutie mark, but I'm reasonably confident this isn't the Fallout: Equestria timeline.

Luna trots into the room, smiling at my unannounced arrival. I briefly consider armouring up, but she'd just want to know why and it would be a sign that I don't trust her.

"No. But, well…"

I nod my head at the reflection of my labour tattoo. Luna narrows her eyes slightly as she tries to work out what my game is, then appears to decide to go along with it and take a closer look. Is 'take a close look at my cutie mark, no, closer' the pony equivalent of 'pull my finger'?

Then she starts, blinking and winding her neck back.

"What happened?"

"You remember I mentioned that alternate version of myself?"

"The one who caused you to break the containment upon your anti-life fragment?"

"No, the other one."

I can't help it. I bow my head slightly, grinning to myself. I love living a life where that sort of statement actually makes sense.

Luna walks around me to look me in the face.

"The one who would at some point threaten your domains?"

"Yes. He did threaten my domain, and… The matter is… Sort of resolved. Unfortunately…"

"You have acquired a new anti-life fragment." She nods. "Do you require the aid of the Elements?"

"No. I mean, it's something like that, but I doubt that the cure is… Quite the same. Is there any object in Equestria that you want totally and irrecoverably destroyed?"

"We have entertained that fantasy of many objects in Equestria, some of which had the power of speech." She considers for a moment. "This method of destruction is absolute?"

"Absolutely absolute. There are ways to defend against it, but they mostly revolve around not getting hit."

"Then… There are indeed such objects. The peytral and helmet worn by Nightmare Moon were shattered by the Elements, but they were not destroyed. They are being studied by some of Sister's 'top ponies', but We would be happier knowing that they were utterly unmade."

"Gotta say, that sounds like an accident waiting to happen."

"That was what We said." She breathes in deeply and then exhales. "But it was not long after Our return, and Sister assured Us that matters were well in hand."

"If you want to see what this fragment does, lead me to it."

She regards me curiously. "We think that We should discuss that with Sister afore We take such action. We take it, then, that this new power is your trophy of victory?"

"Eh. Not sure. Basically, he hit me with it when I hit him with an assimilation attempt. I'm-. The me you're talking to now is what walked away from… What might have been a merger, after Artemis shot his-. The other Grayven's strongest personality traits out of him. Us. … Me."

"You have his memories and power?"

"Y-es, but it's more than that. I-."

"You are the both of you together?"

"'I' might be 'him'." I glance back, letting her react as she will without worry about what I think of her reaction. "I've no idea what his cutie mark would have been. I don't know if Starswirl's Mirror ever changes how it portrays them."

"We… We must confess that We do not know. Does it trouble you?"

"No. I mean… I'm a little worried about-. Hah! Like you and Nightmare Moon, I suppose. Worried-."

"Worried that you couldst become that other you again."

"But not worried that I'm suddenly going to think 'eternal darkness, what a good idea'. Or in his case, 'absolute tyranny, that's a viable way to control a large multispecies empire'. I mean, I… As far as I can tell, my… My beliefs and behaviours are still… Those of the 'me' I'd rather be."

I bow my head slightly.

"Care to share your wisdom?"

"You mean to ask, 'do We still believe that We are the same mare We were before We became Nightmare Moon?'"

"Yes-. Mostly because it lets me put off trying to set up a meeting with Metron to try and get this…" I blink slowly, then realise that she won't know what that signifies. "Metron's a New God who can probably work out how to get rid of this fragment."

"Why didst you not seek him out to remove the last piece?"

"Because, one, he'd sell it back to Darkseid in a heartbeat, and, two, he's… Unpleasant to deal with. Not dangerous, not monstrous, just… Unpleasant."

Luna frowns. "If this cur would sell it to Darkseid, why offer him this piece?"

"Because it's part.. of… Or a backdoor connection to… Or something, to a power Darkseid is using all of the time. He's already got it, so even if getting it back made him a little bit more powerful, it wouldn't really affect things on a strategic level. He wouldn't gain any new capabilities."

"Is there no advantage to him believing you to be the other Grayven?"

"I tend to assume that Darkseid knows everything I'm doing. But it doesn't really make much difference; I have Grayven's memories. He was every bit as committed to acting against Darkseid as I am, and had less contact with him than I have."

I clench and relax my haunches a few times.

"This doesn't weird you out? I'd have thought that ponies would get a bit fixated about a cutie mark changing."

"A good many would. However, Our mark changed when we became Nightmare Moon. Not only that, but We have borne witness to outbreaks of Cutie Pox before, and are hardly so timorous as to be mentally enfeebled by a change in demarcation which you do not even possess in your native form."

I walk closer and nuzzle her.

"Thanks. I-."

She jerks her head back from my nuzzle attempt.

"Though We will chide you for avoiding your duty. Are you not the one who hath lectured Us on the duty of a sovereign to address their flaws?"

"Yes, but… It's not quite the same thing. You and Celestia rule as joint autocrats. I don't have that much day to day decision making to do."

"Do you truly expect us to believe that?"

"Yes. But.. you're right, I should just get on with it."

"Would it calm your quailing heart if We were to accompany you?"

I smile. "Any time I spend in your company is time well spent. Even if there are other people there as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
20:58 GMT

"Found the-?"

"I ain't tawkin' ta you, yet."

So it's like that.

I turn away, looking down at the.. seventh? Largest city on Padrook, planet of origin of the fourth most significant species in this Sector. There are warships in orbit above us, but they're making a point of not taking position directly above us. Perhaps because they don't want to look too menacing, but more likely because they know that if they open fire from that position every missed shot would kill thousands of their own people. Far better to come at us from below or from the side.

I found it revolting that the Tearing Bite ships around Tamaran had kinetic harpoon launchers, because those were only any use against soft ground targets. This city is the opposite in some ways. It has levels of anti-air weapons usually only seen in places where either their enemies make mass use of assault skimmers or where their enemies are other people living on the planet. The buildings aren't strictly fortified, but they are clearly built to be tough enough that they won't collapse if someone has a fire fight in one. The city has some pretty powerful force field generators and impressive capacitors to power them under full bombardment, but no ground to space weapons I can see.

Everything here is purely defensive, but… It's designed to keep people alive while their fleet deals with the fleet of whoever's attacking them. It's not efficient to use your ships to attack civilians somewhere that has a fleet defending it. Even if your fleet is superior, it's always more sensible to hit the enemy fleet first.

Oh, you might threaten civilians with bombardment in order to force the enemy fleet to move into a disadvantageous position; that would explain the shields. But the AA and the structural reinforcement suggest that these people thought that being attacked by a ground army was a risk. No, something that actually happened often enough that they built or rebuilt entire cities with that in mind. Deploying an army to a world where you don't have orbital supremacy is generally a stupid thing to do, because you're putting men and materiel somewhere where it's hard for you to get it back and easy for your enemy to shoot it.

This means that not only did the local fighting get to the point where they were prioritising killing each other's civilians, but that their soldiers hated their enemies so much that they would gladly drop to certain death just to kill some of them.

That's not-. Unless the stellar nations fighting had regressed technologically to the point where the only way they could get through force fields was on the ground, that's a terribly inefficient way of fighting. But I guess that sometimes it's not about being efficient.

"Found the concentration camps yet?"

"No."

"Did you know they were invented by the British?"

Guy frowns, then glances my way for a second before returning to staring at the city.

"No. How come?"

"During the Boer War, when we fought Dutch settlers for control of South Africa. Their civilian population wasn't best pleased to see us, so… The decision was made that moving them from their homes and putting them in camps where their population could be concentrated in one place was a sensible way to manage them and avoid problems with partisans. A bit like the villages America made for Vietnamese people they displaced during the Vietnam War."

"What're we lookin' at, Paul?"

"A place built during a very nasty war, which is now over."

"Been takin' a look at their internet. They really like Mally."

"And I'd guess that it's not just in the official records that they say that."

"No. It ain't."

"Why didn't this Sector have a Lantern after Priest quit?"

"Yeah. I been wonderin' that, too."

"There was no one primary instigator in the war. It's not like when Abin Sur stopped Devlos Ungol. Their unified civilisation was built around the vision of one man."

"What'd'ya think I'm thinkin'?"

"Same thing I am. If things fell apart like this, the Guardians should have left him in place."

We each glance at the other.

"Or removed him earlier, before he could become that important."

"Would'a been bettah."

"For who? Because looking around…" I pointedly look around. "The locals consider further war inconceivable."

"See if they still think that aftah they get t'know him." He contemplates the city for a moment. "What were you an' him tawkin' abowt, anyhow?"

I smile, raising my right hand. "Check it out."

He looks, then frowns. "Thought you were seein' that assassin chick?"

"Larfleeze's ring. Or at least a manifestation of the desires that went into it."

"So it didn't get destroyed by qwa energy. Or… Only tha physical part did. How'd you get it?"

"Reaching around inside the Honden, looking for a ring. That might work for you; a lot more green rings have been destroyed than orange ones."

He nods. "Give it a shot. Anythin' else?"

"Remember how the first personal lantern I made looked?"

"Like a melted pile a' scrap?"

I take my latest effort out of subspace. "This is my second attempt. As you can see, it's a little better."

Guy looks it over carefully, his eyes flickering green.

"Huh. Thought it'd take longer t'get this good at it."

"It wasn't quick, and I haven't had Hinon check it over yet. But it looks better."

"Can Malvolio do that? I know he had that big Lantern in his space station, but if that took three hundred years I ain't too worried."

"It's a Central Power Battery. He doesn't make personal lanterns because he doesn't need them."

"A Cen-? Does that even..?"

"As far as he knows, yes. He hasn't got the hang of making rings yet. But when he does-."

"He gets his own Corps." Guy frowns. "I don't even know how I feel abowt that."

"I don't think it's ever happened before. I'll be interested to see how it works out."

 

[Mr Zoat]

10th September 2012
16:30 GMT -7

"You do not think that he will take umbrage at your equine form?"

I wing-shrug, and take a moment to be smug about how naturally I can pull off the gesture now.

"Metron is interested in novel phenomena. I doubt that he's ever seen a New God pony before. And if a few tissue samples and a thorough physical examination are all I have to give, I'll consider myself to have come out ahead."

We're standing on the upper hull of the Absolute Dominion a very long way away from anything very much. If I squinted really hard and waited a few million years I might just be able to spot the dim light emanating from Mageddon as it lurks around the edge of the universe. Down below us is a long-destroyed bastion of the Old Gods, people of the Third World and our predecessors in terms of a species who could connect to the Source. There's nothing much left there now, which is why Hinon was willing to give me the location, but hopefully it will put Metron in a receptive frame of mind.

That, and the tiny amount of x-element that Himon was willing to part with in exchange for food and children's books. A risk… With Amazing Grace revealed, Darkseid has no real reason to allow any sort of resistance to remain active… Until he gets around to creating a new patsy, at least. But at this point, I'm introducing a source of wonder and joy and Darkseid has no immediate counter. Will he object? Will he see this as a provocative escalation?

I don't know. I can't tell.

"Mother Box."

"Ping."

"Call him."

"… Ping."

I frown. "Seriously?"

"Ping."

"Is yon box having some manner of difficulty?"

"Ah… She doesn't have his details. I mean, he can usually detect open transmissions, but if he's in the arse end of the vibrational spectrum again we won't hear from him until he gets out."

She frowns. "Vibrational… What?"

"Metron knows more about the underlying structure of reality than anyone I know. But it's gotten to the point where no one else can understand what he's going on about. Very definitely including me. Okay, Mother Box, give it a try anyway. We're ageless. We can wait."

"Ping."

"We may be ageless, but We have things that We wish to do this night."

I smile lasciviously. "Oh yeah?"

"Indeed. We have taken your idea of local petitions to heart, and will begin negotiations with the City of Trottingham to hold court there for three nights."

"I suppose you need to send out heralds, dress the audience chamber…"

"Information shall be made available at the Town Hall, and notices shall be sent out in newspapers. The audience chamber shall be left as it is, to emphasise that We are there representing the government of the nation and not on a tour of self-aggrandisement. And…" She coughs quietly. "We hath not… Discussed… That."

"'That'?"

She looks awkwardly away. "You knowst of what We speak."

"I might, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to hear you say it." I look her directly in the eye. "I shouldn't think it would be difficult for you."

She awkwardly paws the hull with her right forehoof.

"When… Two adults have become… Close, as we have become close… There comes a point in their… Relationship. Whereupon they mayst-."

BOOM!

She looks away.

"-decide to continue this later."

Assuming that she was going where I think she was going, I need to find out more about how Equestrians handle intimate relations, both now and a thousand years ago. And… Probably some literature on horse mating, both from Earth and from…

I wonder how awkward I can make it for Sunset?

Metron's chair floats out of the tube, heading towards us at a leisurely pace. It looks… Simpler than I remember from the comics, and its pilot far less human. Tron lines, a chest emblem I don't remember and the blue colour is far lighter. But that's definitely him.

He steeples his hands, leaning back in his chair with an air of disinterest about him.

"Grayven." "Junior Tyrant."

"Metron." "I don't know your name."

"And companion."

He regards Luna for a moment, carefully feeling out her essence.

"Ascendancy brought about by the manipulation of collective belief. Hardly unique. Quadruped herbivore sophont species are rarer, but not especially interesting."

"But have you looked down?"

"Yes, and that was the sole reason why I answered your summons." He holds out his right hand, causing the cube of x-element to float up to him. "I am nowhere near to requiring more fuel, but I suppose that equity requires that I hear you out. What is your request?"

"I have access to the Omega Force."

"Fascinating."

"I want to lose that access. If anyone has a record of the Infinity Pit, the device which once contained the Omega Force before my father bound himself to it, it would be you." Knowledge Desires To Be Spread.

"That is what you want? Not a way to siphon Darkseid's portion?"

"No. I've had enough of weird energies messing around with me. I want it gone." All Control Starts With Self.

"I suppose that such a device could be used to take the Force from Darkseid himself, in time."

"Could it?" I raise my eyebrows. "I hope so, but I genuinely don't know. Has something like that ever been attempted before?"

"I do not believe that it has. Interesting. Should you find a way to make it happen, I would be willing to trade a great deal for that knowledge."

Drat.

"So… You don't have it."

"Queen Heggra did not allow me to study it. She held that it was the rightful domain of the Apokoliptian royal family alone. And now Yuga Khan is on the Source Wall, Heggra is dead and Darkseid is."

"So the only person who would know and might actually tell me is Uncle Drax."

"Who is also dead." He notices my expression. "Or am I misinformed?"

"I hear things." I turn away. "Thank you for your input, Metron. I'll be certain to let you know if I'm successful."

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
00:12 GMT

Hinon looks contemplative.

"I'm not sure which part should concern me the most."

"You could look at it as an opportunity."

"An opportunity to do what, precisely? Broome Bon Baris may be content to study interesting phenomena as a good in itself, but Controller philosophy is rather different."

"Is now a good time to ask what it is?"

"You don't kn-." She looks away, closing her eyes as she makes a show of mastering herself. Of course, it… Is just a show. She's showing me that she wants me to react as if I had just irritated her. "How do you possibly not know?"

"You were fighting the Reach and understood power ring technology. Oh, and you split with the Guardians over the Manhunter thing." I shrug. "Your religious and economic preferences didn't seem that important compared to getting everything running."

"We're post-scarcity; we don't have economics. Every maltusian is as liberated individually as it is possible for them to be, forming and dissolving associations voluntarily on an individual basis. No maltusian has practised religion in the sense that you're used to it since we realised that there wasn't anything greater than us in the universe."

"What about gods or the Source?"

"What about them?"

"The Source is generally considered to be fairly powerful-."

"There are trees larger than me, that doesn't make them greater. And neither are giant walls, even if they are sticky."

"And you're so modest, too."

"I am not modest. I am personally billions of years old. I know precisely what my limitations are. If I say that I have a characteristic then you may reliably deduce that I do in fact have it."

"Alright." I raise my hands in mock surrender. "So what does your voluntary association called the Controllers do? Because you don't seem to be in control of very much."

"I have just told you that I am more powerful than the beings your species regard as being worthy of veneration merely for existing, and you say that I don't control very much? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?"

I frown-.

"You control yourself."

"And rather well. We control what we need to control. When some fool starts poking holes in the universe, we stop them. If someone like the Anti-Monitor tries to destroy it, we will stop them."

"The Reach… Aren't doing that. They're just killing people."

"If they were 'just' killing people, the Controllers would have even fewer recruits than we do now. They are entirely exterminating species. Worse, they're such a monoculture and have such genetic and cultural control that they are unlikely to ever be other than as they are now. They won't make anything to replace what they're removing."

"So the difference between you and the Guardians is..?"

"The Guardians want to maintain a constant presence. Shepherding civilisations and ensuring that they are always seen as benevolent deities. We Controllers do not. Our preference is to maintain absolute control of certain situations and ignore everything else."

"Not to be in control of everything."

"Ideally, we would be in control; we simply wouldn't have to exercise it most of the time. Androids sounded like they would be ideal for that purpose. But they were not."

"How would..? I mean, how is what you want your Corps to be different from what the Guardians want?"

"For us, the most important thing is to have the ability to intervene with overwhelming power in particular instances. Assigning Lanterns to Sectors would be a sort of… Training, for when we need them to do something that's actually significant. For the Guardians, Sector Lanterns are the point: constantly nudging things back into order."

"The Guardians would rather let the Reach do their thing than strip Sectors that are mostly peaceful of their Lanterns, because their legitimacy rests on them being omnipresent, if diffuse."

"I imagine that they would say that there is more to it than that."

"And the unaligned maltusians?"

"They have their own projects. Presumably they're doing something with their time."

"Would..? Any of them be interested in working with Lord Malvolio?"

"Some might. For Controllers, he's even less appealing than you are, but there may be some amongst the unaligned who would relish the opportunity to operate on a smaller scale. Or to study a human who has been changed by the green light in the way that he has."

"What about Controllers who aren't bound to the orange light? I mean, presumably they were fine with the way the Guardians operated up until the majority decided to spare the Manhunters. Malvolio has ideas, but he hasn't codified anything yet. If they got in early and made themselves useful, they might…"

I hesitate, frowning.

"What..? Would you have done if the other Guardians had voted to destroy the Manhunters?"

"Something along the lines of what did happen, I imagine. Personally, I would have wanted to maintain the Halla as a large scale military force while using Green Lanterns as elite operatives, but I can understand why they did not. Having more Guardians would have eased their organisation difficulty, though they only have themselves to blame for not involving younger races in the command structure at this point."

"Mm." I nod. "Thank you. So what do you think of my personal lantern?"

"It's much better. Though I can see exactly where you went wrong. Were you looking at Lord Malvolio's new Central Power Battery when you made it?"

"Yes?"

"Personal lanterns work best when connected to the Central Power Battery. You-."

"I didn't do that. Yeah-. Of course."

"I suspect that if you made one here, now, it would be reasonably functional. You appear to have recovered Larfleeze's ring."

"Yes. I-."

"I am aware of the process." She considers for a moment, or at least gives the appearance of doing so. "I believe that I will lead our mission to Sector One Six Three Four personally. It may prove useful for the task to be undertaken by someone with a personal connection to you."

I nod.

"Makes sense. Any new orders for me?"

"Not immediately. Return to your students. I will contact you once I have something requiring your particular skill set. Off you go."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Sungate, part 1

11th September 2012
08:28 GMT

"-tres?"

Toren?

I take a moment to get my bearings. I'm in bed-. Right, all that stuff with Malvolio yesterday. His fleet is still in the system, and the people of Karax were getting a little excited about having a Green Central Power Battery come and visit them. But apart from booking Onik on a media relations course there wasn't anything for me to do about that.

Toren's on the other side of the door. The rooms aren't exactly spacious, but I was able to bring the bed up to my standards. I pull the duvet aside and float onto the floor.

"I'm awake. Do you need me immediately?"

"No, not immediately. I want to let you know that my partner has arrived."

"In case Malvolio comes back-" Light armour, check appearance… "-or are they here for me?"

"You, though she's not here as additional security." I walk over to the door and open it, greeting Lantern Toren with a nod. "Lantern Vode-M has been an active opponent of the Spider Guild. She wants to join you."

"Nifty. Did you know that we don't have a rule against members of the Orange Lantern Corps being members of other organisations?"

"I meant that she wants to join you in fighting against the Spider Guild. The Green Lantern Corps-."

"Has agreements that you can't breach due to wider concerns, which neatly illustrates the difference between the philosophies of the Guardians and the Controllers."

"Which is?"

"The Guardians would like to have two Lanterns in every Sector in the universe, whereas the Controllers would rather have a hundred Lanterns in the handful of Sectors that need it."

"Regardless of the repercussions?"

"Because of the repercussions. An Orange Lantern who has decided to kill someone isn't going to be put off by the fact that they have to kill them."

He leads the way through the monastery towards the knot of green light I see.

"That suggests a lack of discipline."

"We recognise it as an extrinsic good. Orange Lanterns who really want to make suicide attacks against Reach fleets aren't prevented from doing so, though it is explained to them that that's a really inefficient way to fight. If they can't make that want-the-end, want-the-means jump, then they're probably incapable of learning more anyway."

He glances at me with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Do you recruit many Lanterns like that?"

"No. Just a few, to test the viability of the system. Not only are people who sacrifice their 'self' to the orange light like that impossible to involve in any sort of complex battle plan, but it turns out that their surge power isn't all that great. A Lantern who trains for a few months and actually learns something can actually hit harder. So unless we're desperate for offensive power, the whole practice has been suspended."

"Ah."

He nods, mollified.

"So, Vode-M. Are you informing me of her presence, or warning me?"

"I'm not sure what you're expecting, but I've always found her quite easy to get along with."

I smile.

"How novel. Has she had breakfast yet?"

"She has a little trouble with Karaxian food. When she studied here she survived on noodles."

"Perhaps something from Earth would be easier?"

"That would be contrary to everything I know about your homeworld."

"Yeah, that's fair. Though if it helps, One Six Three Four is probably going to be more exciting in the next few years."

"The one Sector with another human in it."

"Two Eight Two Eight has a human in it."

He looks at me.

"Okay, bad example. But Malvolio is only half human."

"Do you know how rare it is for humanoid species to be capable of reproducing with one another?"

"H-eh."

I bow my head. Should I be proud or ashamed that humans are known for being fecund and dangerously crazy? I mean… As I said, it's not unreasonable.

"Of course, if that carries over into hybrids, it's really only a matter of time until everyone shares the ability."

I've been assuming that it's a product of Earth's high magic level, but that shouldn't apply to humans born away from the planet. So the universe should be relatively safe.

We emerge from the monastery corridor into one of their open air internal courtyards, Lantern Vode-M floating in a meditative pose in the centre. Relatively standard pattern humanoid, her skin has a slight orange tint to it and her hair is impractically long. Her eyes have been replaced by cybernetics which remind me of the ones some of the Qwardians have, curved lenses over the eye socket rather than anything designed to mimic the appearance of normal eyes. Thin black tattoos radiate out from the outer edge of each in jagged arcs. Her uniform is a black body stocking with green armoured boots, gauntlets and cuirass, and she appears to have followed Guy's lead in acquiring an ex-Halla stun gun.

Since her eyes don't move any longer I can't tell where she's looking, but I raise my right hand in greeting anyway.

"Lantern Vode-M. Am I parsing that correctly?"

"Yes."

She doesn't turn to face me, but I suppose that with how her visual field works that's probably irrelevant to her.

"I wish to join your crusade. I want to destroy the Spider Guild."

"Neat."

"Neat?"

"I'm fairly sure that our rules of engagement would get you thrown out of the Green Lantern Corps, so unless you're planning on jumping ship, this is something that we're going to have to discuss at length. Have you eaten?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

11th September 2012
08:36 GMT

"…you think that's what it takes?"

Interesting. Hearing what I actually did to the Guild-owned worlds to force them to cease their offensives appears to have knocked Vode-M out of her constantly-focused state. Which lets me get a slightly better look at her. Ah, yes, someone lives a little closer to the border, don't they?

"There's a saying on my homeworld. 'You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs'." I shrug. "I don't see a way to stop the Spider Guild that doesn't involve vastly reducing their industrial power as well as their military. And forget about occupying their Nests; you'd need an army of billions for each world, plus a fleet… Do you have one?"

"No."

"Do you have a plan to get one?"

"I have working agreements with the militaries of all worlds in my Sector, but I haven't tried to recruit a force for myself."

I take a bite of something that's very nearly a crumpet, covered in what is actually jam from a local fruit that reminds me of the fig.

"So what was the plan? I can see how much you hate them, and how much of your life revolves around that hatred. Presumably you have… Some idea of how you were going to realise that ambition. Tell me."

"I negotiated for access to the network of sensor buoys each world maintains, and I intercept every ship I can. I've convinced Lanterns from neighbouring Sectors to meet up to share information, and to make recordings of everything they see. My aim is to shame the worlds of this region into increasing the strength of their militaries until they can combine their efforts to destroy the Guild."

I nod as I chew, then swallow.

"Any progress?"

"I've intercepted hundreds of vessels."

I nod. "Probably keeping the price up nicely. What about the military build up?"

"I wouldn't be talking to you if it was going as I want it to."

"I am actually slightly impressed by that, by the way. A lot of Green Lanterns will beat their head against a wall until the wall breaks. I mean, that's a problem for a lot of people, but the Green Lantern Corps deliberately trains for it."

"I don't want to engage in wholesale slaughter. Plenty of civilisations manage perfectly well without cannibalism and piracy."

"Not theirs. Do you know how many Nests have ever reformed?"

"I wasn't aware that any had."

"Oh, yes. Precisely one. Sector Two Eight Two Eight. They lost a war and their entire leadership was killed, but the victors didn't want to launch an invasion. So -and this is the funny bit- one of their biological experiments took control of the Nest and negotiated a surrender, which she could do because she hadn't had a normal Guild upbringing or socialisation and so didn't share their assumptions. And she'd have been killed if I hadn't been around to look after her."

"How did she take over?"

"It wasn't just the leadership who'd been killed; it was most of the adults. Their new ruler, the Queen, was free to culturise the children in any way she wanted, so she left out everything that wasn't helpful and had to leave out everything she didn't know."

"Is that your plan? Kill every adult-."

"No, of course not. It's completely impractical. Who would bring up the children? Someone from the civilisations on the border, populated by people who hate them? Or… Default to hating them, since they won't have had any personal contact. Would they? Would you?"

"No. Would this 'Queen'?"

"She wouldn't take that many. And why ask her to take any at all? Biologically, she's got all of the records on Guilder genetics that she needs. Sociologically, she's in her teens and she's created something better; nothing worth preserving there. Which leaves the idea of valuing individual existence for its own sake, which… Yes, I do. I just don't value them more than the people who will eventually be their victims."

"You want to kill… All of them."

"No. I don't actually care all that much about the Spider Guild. I'm just using them as training dummies for the Lanterns I'm trying to upskill because I recognise them as the drain on universal utility that they are. If I wanted them dead, then I assure you: they would be dead."

"You're willing to see them all dead."

"Not all. As I said, the Queen is abiding by the terms of her surrender, and has reformed her Nest. But all the ones here? Certainly."

I finish off my pseudo-crumpet as she considers her response.

"But I imagine that makes you uncomfortable. So tell me, if the stellar nations of the region had done as you want and mustered their forces, what would you want their rules of engagement to be?"

"It wouldn't be my decision."

"It wouldn't be your decision because it's not going to happen. But if it was? Hm? Target only warships, known pirates and military installations?"

She doesn't rise to the bait.

"I use the Guild for target practice, because they're both nearly as bad as it gets, and weaker than the people who are actually as bad as it gets. But come on. Would anyone be willing to occupy those worlds?"

"They would not."

"Do you believe that there is some substantial internal resistance who you could work with to form a collaborationist government?"

"No. There is none."

"The Green Lantern Corps usually limits itself to arresting named individuals. Do you believe-?"

"There is no one I could arrest who would not be replaced by someone near-identical."

"See, I get it. You're a good person. You want to help people, improve their circumstances, rescue them from those who would enslave and consume them. But while you're trying to go about it in a reasonably rational way, I can see how you feel about the methods I'd use. So what do you really want? Do you want to be someone who fights the Spider Guild? Or do you want to actually destroy them?"

"By killing every last member of their civilisation."

"Or by whatever method you can make work. Because as far as I can see, what you're doing isn't bringing you any closer to that objective. All it's doing is making you fail more efficiently."

I lean forward slightly.

"What do you want, Lantern Vode-M? What is your most fundamental desire? What drives you to fight? What does your ideal universe look like?"

"I thought you already knew."

"I've got a fairly good idea. But these sessions can cause changes in our reflective equilibrium. Would you like to join my other students, or have I said enough to drive you off yet?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

The Ancestor

Spring

Why are we here, grandson? Our people come here at this time each year, following the path-.

No, no child, I was not mocking you. Our people paint the rocks to remember our history and the history of the world. I come here each year to remember when the history of the world painted me.

No, my mother did not bear me here. No, she and my father did not make me here. Here… No, just over there, is where I met The Ancestor.

Ah, now you are interested. Yes, the figure we paint in white and orange clay. No, he was not made of white and orange clay, of course not! Are real kangaroos made of red clay? Yes, his skin was white as bone. No-. Hush, grandson. I cannot explain if you do not listen.

There. And here, you see? This is where I painted it onto the rock, when I was only a little older than you are now. Yes, it does look like a scowling face. I said the same thing to him, many years ago. No, he was not angry. What did he say? He had a strange way of speaking, but as I remember it…

'Everything has to look like something'.

What did he mean? Ah, let me see. That rock, there? What shapes do you see in it? The crack, like a river seen from above? The shadow, like the body of a spider? But it is not a river and it is not a spider. Just like that, and his magic lantern was not angry. It just looked a little like a face that was angry.

The colour? Oh yes. And just as we draw him every year, the orange colour surrounded his bone white skin, and shone from his lantern.

Feel? It didn't really feel like anything. Perhaps it is because our skin is so much darker than his, that makes it harder to see. Or perhaps because it was a very long time ago, and I am very old now.

No, I don't think that happens when you get sick. And he didn't look sick.

Do you want me to tell you what happened?

Well. I came here because I wanted to see what was here. My friends were either busy, or they had their own tasks, or they were simply not interested. I came up… Just over there, because I was young and the steep slope was less of a challenge-.

Yes, you can climb up it later. Yes, I will catch you if you fall off.

And-. Yes, and I saw him sitting just there, with his spear with no point, and the torch which shines orange without fire or heat. It was leaning against the rock, just… There, I think-. No, no, there, he moved it over there later.

No, he wasn't making his own drawings.

No, I wasn't afraid. I was confused, like seeing a picture come to life when it should have stayed a picture. I stood there, there was a tree there at the time, for a few moments. And he didn't look at me, but after those few moments he said, 'do you want to talk with me?'.

I didn't know. I looked around, because perhaps he meant someone else, my father or my mother or one of the elders. But there was no one else there, and… I did want to see what was up here. Meeting the Ancestor certainly would make the short journey worth while.

So I came down, and then he looked at me. No, only the part around the black was orange. He was more a man than a dream. Yes, I touched him, and his skin just felt like skin. A little colder to the touch, but nothing too strange. I asked if he had always been there.

He said, it felt like it.

I didn't understand. Had he been sitting just up this ridge, waiting for someone to find him?

He said no. He wanted to see what our people were doing. I said, 'the same thing as last year'. He said that he wasn't there last year, so he didn't know what that was. I said that it was probably the same as the year before. He nodded his head, and said that it probably was, but he hadn't been there that year, either. He said that he hadn't been here for a very long time, and that it was so long ago that what we did might have changed a little.

No, his hair was not white like his skin. It was brown, and not very long.

I asked him how long it had been. He said… I do not exactly remember, but it was a very large number of-. Yes, more years than I have been alive. I told you, I was not much older than you are now when I spoke with him. More than that. So long that I do not think that my father's father's father would have been born then. He asked me to tell him all about our people, and said that in return he would answer any questions I had about anything I wanted to know.

What did I do? What could I do, where the Ancestor himself asked me about our people? I told him the big things, our people's origin, and where we walk throughout the year. I told him the small things, the pretty stone one of my friends had and the way my brother held his spear when he was hunting. I told him about the foods I liked and the work I did not like. And he nodded, and he smiled, and he listened, until I ran out of things to say.

And then he asked me what I would like to hear him talk about? Did I want to hear how our people first came to this part of the world? Or how they lived, or how they learned to hunt kangaroos and wombats for the first time? I asked-.

Yes, I asked that. Have they not always hunted kangaroos and wombats?

He told me that we live on a very big island, and that most of the animals here don't live anywhere else. So before we came here, we hunted something else.

I asked him if he saw it, and he said that he did. He said that he was not as old as the very first people, but that he had seen more of the world than anyone else.

I looked at the rock, and saw that nothing was drawn upon it. So I asked if the pictures were really part of the dream. Did they really keep the world in the shape that it is. And he said that they did, in part. That it was the picture in the dream and in our dreams that made the world the shape it was, but that since we could not see the dream, we made pictures to remind us of the shape of the dream, so that we could dream it properly.

But I did not understand. So I asked him what the very first people he met hunted. And he told me that the very first people he met had not hunted. The first people he met were very small, and took only the meat left by the cats. And when they were not careful enough, the cats would not run as the animals we hunt run, but would chase them down, play with them, and then slowly eat them.

Yes, I asked that as well. He told me that they are like dingoes, only far larger, with claws on their feet. And they did not like hunting as a pack, but hunted alone as much as possible.

Where? Far from here. He said that there have never been cats here, and that cats in other places are much smaller as the people are much bigger. I asked, 'how that could be?', and he told me that a very long time ago one of those small people had asked him how they could get large enough to fight the cats. He said that he told the one who asked him that it would need every one of his people to dream that the people were mighty and that the cats were weak, To dream that they had always been mighty hunters and fierce warriors while the cats had always been weak and stupid animals.

And that they should dream him having an orange torch on a stick that looked like an angry face.

I think that must have been what he meant. All of our drawings show him with his torch, even the very oldest ones faded into the rock. But if he was so very old, older than the first of our people to live here, then he would be older than all of the pictures.

Coming here? No, he said that can not happen. The man he told that went to every people he could, telling them how to dream, how to change themselves from hiding from the cats to ruling them. And one day so many of them dreamed it so well that it became true.

Yes, he told me that we do not need to worry about cats. Whatever they are. Wherever they are.

And when that happened, he got his strange torch, and he began to travel-.

Yes, I suppose so. If people stopped dreaming that things are so, then they might stop being so. And so-.

Yes, you can paint a picture of yourself if you really want to. But it will not change anything unless everyone in the world dreams the same thing.

Yes, what everyone dreams is what they are shown. But there are many more people than our people, and very few of them have heard of you.

Has he? Perhaps. Or perhaps he will hear about you from your own grandson, next time he visits our people.

Roughly 50000 Years Before I Was Born

I wish.

Bloody cats.